


'o ^^*io«. , 



[>• ^'-^^^^ 









o^ -.— -• 0' ^^'*.T^''\< 









W^ rs v\» ^^"^ ^* 1%^ **-«% •j'^S^^. 

-.1^ .**afe\ U ,^^ :MSi. %/" yg^% \,^^ . 



oy^^ 







.'V. <e. 




.-Jv" 



'^. 




















>3 • *f'>. A" 



^T-b- 






V-^ 
















o « o -' . V^ 





o'^ c « " • * "^o j> . ^ • * '^^ d^ 6 <• • • * "^o A^ 














jP-n,. : 



• . ^^ 



;^ '•oVo'* .^^* 




■^^ '%<» 





. ■^^^>' ^*'"'^*^ ••■MSS^- (.' 



L" ^^ <^ H 






• ..*^"- '-^^.^ ,^"'^-. -J 






.r o_ *:'9^^^* ^ ' ^^^ *y^^^^*^ ^K 



0^ ♦•:• ♦ <^ 






M E M O I R 



LIFE 



OP 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 



BY SAMUEL L. KNAPP. 



" Most men are bom only to Uvc and die ; Init some few live to civo an undying faine to their 
country, and to siamii tlieir unage on Uie age uiiicli produced Uiein." 



SECOND EDITIOJV. 

RKVISEU AND BROUGHT UOWN TO THE I'RESENT TIME. 

NEW YORK, 

PUBLISHED BV J. S. REDFIELD. 

1835. 



El 340 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by SamVel L. Knapp, in 
the Clerk's Ofl5ce of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 



TO 

THE LOVERS OF 
CIVIL LIBERTY AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW,— 

SUBJECTS 

WHICH HAVE BEEN ADVOCATED BY THE 

HIGHEST MINDS, 

AND MAINTAINED, IN THIS COUNTRY, FOR TWO 

CENTURIES, 

BY A lAVISH EXPENDITURE OF OUR BEST BLOOD,— 

THIS SKETCH 

OF THE LIFE OF ONE OF THE MOST CONSISTENT 

AND 
THE MOST POWERFUL EXPOUNDERS AND DEFENDERS 

OF THESE 

VITAL PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM,— 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
BY THE 

AUTHOR. 



LIFE 



OP 



DANIEL WEBSTER. 



In a free country, where public opinion sways every thing of a public nature ; where 
tnen are called from the mass of their fellow-citizens to offices of trust and distinc- 
tion, and return again to private life, and still are eligible to the same, or new situations ; 
and where there is nothing permanent but a fair, and an honest reputation, i: bec9ines 
each one, desirous of being able to bear his part properly, to make hiniself acquainted 
with men as well as things. It is easier to collect matters for statistical tables, to 
make geographical surveys, and to ascertain the capacities of rivers and streams ; in 
fact, to get at all the physical resources of a country, than to acquire a scanty know- 
ledge of the intellectual wealth of a people ; parliL-ularly when they are scattered 
over such an extent of territory as we are in the United Stales. Curiosity prompts 
us to inquire something of the personnl appearance of a distinguished individual, some- 
thing of his age, manner, jiabits, and disposition ; for we do not think entirely in ilie 
abstract on any subject. We must ste some resemblance to Herculesto be saiisfied with 
the account of his great strength ; Ids colossal frame must accompany our thoughts of 
his mighty deeds. To wait until men are dead to make ourselves acquainted with 
their characters, has more modesty than wisdom in it. In this, we shoidd ratlier he 
living with the dead, than with the animated, active beings around us ; not that we 
should be ignorant of those who have finished their labors, and who have gone to 
receive their rewards ; who have stamped the by-gone age with their illustrious deeds, 
or intellectual productions. These should be held in sweet remendirance ; but those 
who are now efficient agents in the affairs of men, shoidd also be our study. If we 
make a wrong estimate of the dead, it will not do nnieh harm ; for those \vho come 
after us will correct our opinions and reverse our judgments upon the merits of those 
who have passed away. But if we are misled in our estimates of the virtues or talents, 
dispositions or opinions of the living, we may do ourselves an injury bv lavishing 
confidence where it is not deserved, or by williholding it when it should be given. 
What is meant by a knowledge of human nature, but an acquaintance with the mo- 
tives, principles, and actions of the living? Our country abounds in rich materials 
for sketches ancl memoirs of distinguished mcri. Some of these memoirs and notices 
we have had, of our prominent naval, and military, and diplomatic men ; and some- 
times we have seen a notice of a poet or an orator, but not always drawn with a deep 
knowledge of the subject, or in an independent spirit. 

The memoir of one of our most eminent jurists, statesmen, and orators, was con- 
templated some time since, and a hasty sketch given to the public. The good feel- 
ings shown to that scanty production, which was sent into the world without con- 
ference with any one on the subject, or without looking for a sinijle fact not within 
the recollection of the writer, has induced him to extend his remarks upon the events 
of the life of Mr. Webster, and upon his labors ai the bar, in the halls of legislation, 
and among his fellow citizens, as occasions called forth his talents. 

Daniel VVebsler was horn in the town of Salisbtny, situated on the banks of the 
Merrimack, in the State of Mew Hampshire, on the l^th day of January, in the year 
of our Lord, I'f^'i. His father, grand-father and great grand-father, were named 
Ebenezer, and were descendants of Thomas Webster, an inhabilant of Hampton in 
that State, as early as 1G56, who died in 1715, aged 83, and whose son Khenezer was 
one of the grantees of Kingston in 1692, and a settler there about 1700. The father of 
Daniel Webster was i>orn at Kingston, in 173y; the son of a farmer. He left his 
father's farm at the early age of eighteen, to serve as a soldier in the wars of 1755. 
The conflict at that time with the French and Indians was a severe one; and New 
Kiigland, as well as some other colonies, was heavily i.a.xod for ))rovincial troops. 

*1 



6 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

The youthful soldier was selected as one of a distinguished coitds, called Rogers's 
rangers. JMajor Robert Rogers, a native of Londonderry, in the State of New Hamp- 
shire, was authorized by the British Government to raise several companies to range 
the frontiers in wmter as well as in summer, in order to watch the hostile Indians, 
who often, in the most inclement season, made attacks upon the defenceless inhab- 
itants of the frontiers. The body of troops called the rangers, were taken from the 
boldest and hardiest of the yeomanry of the land. They were doubly armed, and 
carried with them snow-shoes and skates for service; and generally made their head- 
quarters at the souilicrn extremity of Lake George. The snow-shoes put them on an 
equality with their foes; and with their skates they had greatly the advantage of 
the Indians. Stark, Putaaui, and several others, who were distinguished during the 
revolutionary war, were trained in this school. Some of the well authenticated ex- 
ploits of this hardy band seem like romance to us at the present day. All along the 
mountain borders of Lake George, spots are shown where the rangers fought despe- 
rate battles in the winter season; sometimes with more than twice their numbers, 
This corps fought from I7r75 to the fall of Quebec, in 1750. They were put foremost 
in battle by Abercrombie and Amherst ; and some of them were sent to assist Wolfe. 
The youthful soldier was made for a ranger from his corporeal and intellectual powers, 
whicn were of a robu.st order. Rogers states in his joiirnal, that their packs were 
generally of twice the weight of those commonly carried by soldiers. Many of this 
band perished in their frontier campfiigns ; but some of the survivors, who had re- 
pelled the foe, at the p.?ace of Ai.x-la-Chapelle, in 1763, took advantage of this quiet 
time, and pushed inlo the wilderness to form settlements. Among them was Mr. E. 
Webster. He took up his march, and penetrated tiie forest fifteen miles above the 
garrison town, — now Concord,— the seat of Governmeni for that State. This new 
settlement was called Salisbury, after a town of that name in Massachusetts, from 
which many of the .«etilcrshad emigrated. Here the enterprising adventurers set 
about building up one of those corporations that make up New England; one of 
those primitive assemblies governed bv patriarchal simplicity, and yet with energy and 
effect. While he and his friends, a handful of sturdy yeoniaiiry, were clearing the 
land and watching the growth of their crop.s and their children, the revolutionary 
storm burst out. They were accustomed to dangers, not to fears. Every possession 
had been gained by great efibrts; and they were prt pared to support their property 
and their lil)erties wiili still greater. The soldier of a former war was now called to 
the command of a company raised in his own tovv'ii and vieinity ; and great confidence 
■was placed in one who had had fuich experience as a ranger. In 1777, when the 
alarm was given that Hurgoyne was making rapid strides into our territory, having 
taken Ticonderoga, wliich had been tlionght quite impregnable, the militia of New 
York and New England started at once, and hastened to meet the enemy. Captain 
Webster was with Stark's force in his spirited and successful engagement with Count 
Baum, at Bennington, and also at the surrender of Burgoyne. After the peace of 
17S3, he was elected a member of the Legislature of New Hampshire, and served in 
both branches of the General Court. In 1701, he was appointed .Judge of the Court 
of Connnon Pleas, and was on the bench for several years. Judge Webster was a 
man of strong sense; and, although his education was, of course, in that age limited, 
vet he was well acquainled with the Constitution of the St.ates, and the laws of the 
land as they affected the great question of rights and duties of freemen ; and his 
opinions were held in great respect by his neighbors,— and a neighborhood is a very 
p.\tensive circle in a new country. In' the latter part of his life. Judge Webster found 
leisure for reading, of which he was very fond. His society was sought by all the in- 
telligent men around him, for he excelled in conversation. He died at the age of 
ei.xtv-seven. in 1S03. 

The niaicieii name of Daniel Webster's mother was Eastman ; she was a native of 
Salisbury, in IMassachusetts, a woman of intellect, piety, and good affections,— loved 
and respected in her neighborhood and venerated by her children. She had three 
pons and two daughters, and was their primary instructcr in the elements ot letters. 
With the true feelings of a maternal heart she watched the growth of her sons; and 
with that inspiratioi), \\hi( h Heaven often vouchsafes to a mother to reward her for 
her anxieties and pain.s, she ))rophesied their future distinction ; and, more happy 
liian many, she lived to sec; the prophecy fulfilled. 

In the neighborhood of Salisbury, in the town of Boscawen, there resided a clergy- 
man, who possessed the so, d of the man of Ross, and as the inhabitants of the siir- 
rounding country were too happy in their possessions from their industry, to require 
Jiiin to apportion maid^^, or appraitice Grphans, if he had possessed the means, still 
there was a way for him to be quite as useful, in dispcn.-ing the blessings of educatioa 
This man was the Rev. Samuel Wood, P. D., who added to an ardent love of learn- 



LIFE OP DANIEL WEBSTER. 7 

ing, great industry and patience. Hundreds of those who were striving for an edu- 
cation, received his instruction gratuitously, and many of thftm shared his hospitable 
table without remuneration, or a wish for it on his part. He is still living, with the 
same noble disposition, if his age does not admit of the same exertions. This good 
man saw the promising talents of the subject of ihis memoir, and rocommenden his 
father to send him to college. For this purpose, the son was sent to E.xcter academy, 
in his native state. This was judicious, for B^xeter academy is one of the best literary 
and scientific institutions in the country. This, with its twin sister, Phillips' Andover 
academy, was founded and liberally endowed by the Phillips family— a name identi- 
fied with the literature, science, and theology of the country. The E.xcter academy 
was then, and still is, under the superintendence of Benjamin Abbot, L. L. D., a fine 
classical scholar, of gentlemanly and atiectionate manners; a man admirably calcu- 
lated for the Principal of such a seminary. Dr. Abbot had the sagacity to discover at 
once the capacity and talents of his pupil, and used his best e.xertions to bring him 
forward, which he did in a very rapid manner. Such men as Wood and Abbot 
should be remembered with the great teachers of youth,— Milton. Busby, Johnson and 
Parr, to whom so much credit has justly been given, as instructers of the great minds 
of England. There is an affectionate connexion between an instructer and his pupil, 
which lasts through life, if there has been a good understanding in the early days of 
the aspirant for literary and scientific honors with his director and teacher. ' 1 taught 
that boy,' is the proud refieclion of the teacher, when his pupil becomes distinguished; 
and, I was educated by that celebrated instructer, is the heartfelt response of one, 
however elevated, whose mind has been properly nurtured, and the lu.xuriance of 
whose imagination has been judiciously pruned by the friendly and sagacious care 9f 
a kind and intelligent teacher. Mr. Webster has often been heard to express his 
obligations to Wood and Abbot for their attention to his education. They share hia 
fame, and enhance, while they enjoy his honors. 

From this academv, Mr. Webster went to Dartmouth college, an institution which 
has produced no ordinary share of distinguished men in every walk of life. 

There is one feature in the character of that college, which deserves to he men- 
tioned. There was no mannerism— the bane of many seminaries, contracted by the 
course of studies required there; nor could you tell from the graduate the course of hi.s 
discipline while a student. After exacting the ordinary requisitions, the mind of each 
schijlar was allowed to lake its own bent, without the stamp of a reigning fashion, as 
common as it is injurious to young men. In Dartniqutli college there was no uni- 
formity of coais, caps, or thoughts. The alumni exhibited a ^eildcniesc- of free minds, 
over whom the alma mater had no other control, than the exactions of a respectful 
compliance to a few necessary rules in order to secure the ordinary duties of_ a stu- 
dent. Mr. Webster was distinguished in his class for a general knowledge of all the 
branches of learning taught in thecollege, but much more for a bold, strong, indepen- 
dent manner of tbinking, and of expressing his opinions. He grappled with au- 
thors at that lime, not sinipU' to make himsi^lf master of what tney wrote, but to 
test their merits by a standard of his own. If such a mind is not always right in its 
conclusions, it is'certainly on the road to truth. The scholars acknowledged his 
groat talents, and the Faculty sanctioned their opinion of his merits. The Pmfessor 
of Natural Philosophy, Judge; Woodward, who lived but three years after Mr. Web- 
ster left college, often snokeof him in high terms, and accompanied his remarks with 
a confident prophecy of his future eminence. 'That man's victory is certain,' said 
the sage Professor, 'who reaches the heart through the medium of the understanding, 
Hegainefl me by combating my opinions, for I often attacked him merely to try Ins 
strength.' The good old Professor was then in the wane of life ; but if his struggles 
with his pupil lacked something of his former energy, (for he was in the prime of life a 
strong man, arid had but few equals in the field of argument,) still there was such a 
sincerity in his opinions, and so much of his former insight into character remained, 
that all were prepared to respect and believe his visions of coming days. 

On leaving college, Webster went to Fryburgh to take charge of an academy. 
Here he ofTiciated a year. He discharged his duties faithfully from principle, but his 
heart was not thought to have been deeply engaged in the business ; for his own 
plans for self-imnrovement were too vast to permit him to take great delight in toiling 
to cultivate the minds of others in that stage of knowledge. He was preparmg to be 
an instructer of nations, not of a few of the community in which he lived. Frylnirgh 
is an interior town in Maine, but here he found books and some inielligent rJocieiy, 
particularly in the family of the good clergyman of that town. The Rev. William 
Pessenden, was a pious, well educated man, and was of course fond in bis old age, of 
a youthful, vigorous mind, with a spirit fresh and animated from recent views of na- 
ture and man. j .■ ■ r 
It is a fact worth noticing, that many of the great men of New England disciplined 



8 LIFE OF DANIEL WEESTER. 

their minds, and made their first earnings as instructers of youth ; Dr. Joseph War- 
ren, John Adams, Judge Gushing, Governor Sumner, Judge Parsons, and many 
others were for a time schoolmasters. It was thought a year or two were well spent 
in teaching the classics, as teaching roused their recollections, which, in this country 
too soon fade away in the business of life, for want of a more frequent recurrence to 
books. 

The next season, Mr. Webster returned to his native town, and entered the office of 
his friend and neighbor, Thomas W. Thompson, a man of taste and talents, then 
engaged in the profitable course of country business. If Thompson had been in a less 
absorbing course in his profession, he would have been one of the most elegant scho- 
lars of his day. His style was classical, and his manners refined. He had been 
distinguished as a polite and well grounded scholar at Cambridge, and was a tutor 
there for several years. The routme of such an office being soon understood, Mr. 
Webster was desirous of witnessing a more enlarged course of practice; and for this 
purpose he went to Boston, and put himself under the instruction of Christopher Gore, 
a distinguished civilian, who was not engaged in common business, but was con- 
sulted on affairs of importance, and attended court only in cases which required high 
acquirements and great powers. His library was extensive, and Mr. Webster sat 
down in his olfice to make himself a lawyer on a broad scale. He was then acquainted 
with the ordinary practice of courts. At this time he made himself master of special 
pleading ; Williams' edition of Saunders had not then appeared. The book was 
studied^ when studied at all, in the old folio edition. Mr. Webster took this up, trans- 
lated the Latin and Norman French into English, and made an abstract of every 
case in this book. This gave him a familiarity with the forms of special^ pleading. 
This is a necessary science to every lawyer. The subtilty in the method of reasoning 
found in special pleading had its origin in the .\ristotcliaii philosophy; and if at times 
justice has been strangled by it, still it has often assisted to bring a subject to its 
points and bearings, and to give the powers of ratiocination a directness, that could 
not be expected under the form of a simple negation in reply to numerous allega- 
tions. At all events, it was necessary to be known in order to meet those, who by 
having some knowledge of it were apt to afftct a superiority over those who had neg- 
lected to make themselves masters of the science. Here, loo, he discovered, that a 
profound knowledge of English History was necessary to make a lawyer, and that 
law was, in a srood degree, an historical sdcnce. 

To this end, he devoted much time to this study, and then he had not the facilities 
which have since been presented to the reader. David Hume was a deep and learned 
philosopher, but he does not afford the student so much knowledge of the growth of 
English law as others have since done. Hume generalized where others have since 
detailed. Lingard, Turner, Hallam, and others, have saved the student of this day 
many hours of laborious research, then necessary for those who wished for a proper 
share of knowledge in the origin and practice of English law. 

Mr. Gore having become acquainted with the capacity and acquirements of Mr. 
Webster, the office relation between them was forgotten, and they stood to each other 
on the footing of intellectual friends. This was a matter of importance to Mr. Web- 
ster, for Mr. Gore was an elegant man. He had been a coinmissioner under Jay's 
treaty, and had, in that official situation, resided several years in England. He was 
lettered and polite, as well as sound and erudite in his profession. If public stations 
gave him access to the higher circles of society, the dignity and^ease of his manners 
and the graces of his person secured him consideration and respect. He was aeqilaitit- 
ed witli most of the great men of his lime, and he conmiunicaieil his inforinatinii with 
so much exactness, discrimination and taste, that his listeners becanie familiar with 
them also : and no one profited more hv these ready communications than ]\lr. 
Webster. No public man in our country lias more successfully cultivated this kind 
of knowledge — an accniaintance with livmg prominent men— and this for the purpose 
of knowing how much intellect, and how many the acquirements, requisite for the 
management of the political and civil world. Not that ;\Ir. Webster has studied, as 
some do, davand night, the book of English, Scotch and Irish peerages, or penetrated 
deeply into the iieraldrv of dislinguished commoners through one of ihe keepers of 
the office of family honors ; but he has been careful to trace the rise and progress of 
every great mind engaged in any branch of letters or science, or in active life. With 
the labors of English lawvers and statesmen, he was as familiar before this period, as 
hooks could make him ; but now he had an opportunity of getting from an intelligent 
observer what books could not teach. 

On finishing his studies for admission to the bar, he was introduced to the court by 
Mr. Gore with some remarks highly complimentary, prognosticating his future dis- 
tinction while declaring his present character and acquirements. It was supposed 
that under the auspices of Mr. Gore and his friends, Mr. Webster would have com- 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. \) 

menced his professional career in Boston. There was a fine field for his growth, but 
he had made up his determination to return to his native State and euhivate his mind 
in tiie quiet of a country life, certainly for a while. He ventured to meet the maxim, 
that a prophet is not 'xithout honor but in his oi.cn rovntry, and returned to the vicinity 
of his birth-place to open his olBce. In this retreat from city life, with a cood library, 
and just business enough to keep up his spirits, he pursued a systematic course of stu- 
dies, with so much intensity, that his friends became alarmed, thinking his constitu- 
tion was sinking under the severity of his application to books. At this crisis of his 
fate, his friends persuaded him to remove to Portsmouth, the commercial city of the 
State. Here he found a cheerful, intelligent circle of friends, who made his leisure 
hours pass off happily, and he recovered from his indisposition, as a strong man rises 
from weariness and exhaustion, the moment he has been refreshed by rest. 

Soon after Mr. Webster had opened his office at Boscawen, a trial for murder came 
on in the county of Plymouth. The court assigned him to defend the prisoner, 
although the time had not elapsed for his admis-sion as a Counsellor at the Supreme 
Court of the State. The murder was foul and horrid, perpetrated on an irinocent 
man — a fellow prisoner for debt. Tliey were in the same room. Noprovocation was 
jdven by the sufferer, or none that could in the slightest degree palliate the offence. The 
fact of killing could not be q^uestioned. The defence, of course, was narrowal to one 
point — the insanity of the prisoner. There were no proofs of his former insanity, but 
the malignity of his disposition was well known to all the country around ; his ('oun- 
.=el, nevertheles-s, was not deterred from going on, with all these formidable circum- 
stances to contend with. He arsued, that the enormity of the deed, perpetrated 
without motive, or without any of tliose motives operating upon most minds, furni.shed 
presumptive proof of the alienation of the prisoner's mind ; and even the cool deliber- 
ation and apparent serenity which he exhibited at the time the deed was done, wore 
proofs that reason was perverted and a momentary insanity had come over him. The 
-Advocate astonished the court and iury and all who heard him, by his deep knowledge 
of the human mind. He opened all the springs of action and anal vzed every property 
of the mind so lucidly and philosophically, that it was a new school for those who 
heard him. He showed the different shapes insanity assumed from a single current of 
false reasoning upon a particular subject, while there is a perfect soundness of mind on 
every other subject, to the reasoning aright upon wrong premises, and to the reasoning 
wrong upon right premises, up to those paroxysms of madness, when the eye is filled 
with strange sights, and the ear with strange sounds, and reason is entirely dethroned. 
As he laid open the infirmities of human nature, the jury were in tears, and the 
bystanders still more affected; but common sense prevailed over tirgument and 
eloquence, and the wretch was convicted and executed. Notwithstanding the fate of 
the murderer, the speech lost nothing of its effect upon the people. It was long the 
subject of conversation in every public place, and is often mentioned now with admi- 
ration. The path of a lawyer is never strewed with flowers; he must be constantly 
harnessed for the contest, and heoftcn contends with fearful odds, and cannot choo.«e 
his cause, pr his client, or his witnesses. To discharge his duties properly he should 
have hardihood, tact, talents and learning, with readiness, patience and forbearance. 
In this new situation at Portsmouth, Mr. Webster was encompossefl with .•shrewd 
and powerful men. Among these were two gentlemen very much distinguished in 
their profession. Mr. IMason from his eminent talents and skill in the management 
of causes had acquired an extensive practice. He was witty, sarcastic, argumentative 
and persevering, and therefore a most powerful antagonist. Judge Smidi, who resi- 
ded in a neighhoring town, about this time returned to the bar, after having been 
Chief Justice of the State. He was one of the best read lawyers in INew-Knglnnd, 
and also a fine classical scholar. His speaking at the bar w*as easy, fluent, plavfiil or 
severe, as the occasion required. His opinions passed for law with the court and jiiiy, 
and the weight of his character was felt in every cause in which he was engaged. 
With these and others of eminence, Jlr. Webster had to contend at an age when most 
young lawyers are preparing themselves for future labors in minor causes and in infe- 
rior courts. Mr. Webster did not rely on his eloquence for success, but prepared himself 
with great industry and care. He secured tlie jury by a cleai; statement of his case, 
and always used such plain language, that they could not misunderstand him ; they 
thought it was just such as thev would have used, had they been called to tell the 
same story, not knowing how difficult it is to reach such a style of communicating 
our thoughts. Not two years had elapsed before he was considered among the first 
jury lawyers of the country. The elder practitioners now sharpened their wits to take 
the lead of him in the law arguments to the bench. In (his they were dipnpnointed, 
for he was at home there also. He argued his cause to the court with as umch clenr- 
nesfi and force as he had done with the jury. His mind, naturally logical, seize*! the 
strong points in a law case, and he pushed his reasonings home to the understandings 



10 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

of the judges. His seniors at the bar now found it was better to divide the empire 
with him than to dispute it. These great men soon became his cordial friends, and 
are now amongst his warmest admirers and eulogists. 

It was natural, that one so well fitted for public life should feel some desire to try 
his fortune in politics, at least so far as to measure his strength with those of other 
men, who had gained reputation in the halls of legislation. He began well ; the times 
were stormy; war hung over us; party spirit was full of bitterness in every part of 
the country; sound and fury took the place of fair discussion, ai-,d rancorous feudg 
were in every town and village, but Mr. Webster entered into none of them. He was 
decided, firm and straight-forward. No politician was ever more direct or bold ; he 
had nothing of the demagogue about hini. Fully persuaded of the true course, he 
followed it with so much firmness and principle, that sometimes his serenity was taken 
by the furious and headstrong as apathy ; but when a fair and legitimate opportunity 
offered, he came out with such strength and manliness, that the doubting were satis- 
fied, and the complaining silenced. In the worst of times and in the darkest hour he 
had faith in the redeeming qualities of the people. They might be wrong, but he saw 
into their true character sufficiently to believe, that they never would remain perma- 
nently in error. In some of his conversations upon the subject, he compared the people 
in their management of the national affairs to that of the sagacious and indefatigable 
raftsmen on his own Merrimack, who had falls and shoals to contend with in iheir 
course to the ocean — guiding fearlessly and skilfully over the former— between rocks 
and through breakers, and when reaching the sand banks jumping oft' into the water 
with. lever, axe, and oar, and then with pushing, cutting and directing, made all rub and 
go to the astonishment of those looking on. The first halo of political glory that hung 
around his brow was at a convention of the great spirits in the county of Rockingham, 
where he then resided, and such representatives from other counties as were sent to this 
conTentioii to take into consideration the state of the nation, and to mark out such a 
course for themselves as should be deemed advisable by the collected wisdom of those 
assembled. On this occasion, an address and a string of resolutions were proposed 
for adoption, of which he was said to be the author. Theye.vhibited uncommon pow- 
ers of intellect and a profound knowledge of our national interests. He made a most 
powerful speech in support of these resolutions; portions of which were reprinted at 
that time, and which were much adiTiired in every part of theUnion. From this time 
he belonged to the United States, and not to New Hampshire e.xclusively. Massa- 
chusetts seemed to take as deep an interest in his career as his native State. 

Not far from this period, a traveller passing through Portsmouth, when some elec- 
tion was near at hand, when at the inn it was announced over the dinner table, that 
Mr. Webster was to speak at a caucus that evening. This news ran from one part 
of the town to another, and all were enthusiastic at hearing that Mr. Webster was 
to speak. The gentleman's carriage came to the door, and he was nbout to get into 
it, when the hostler said, ' Sir, are you going to leave the town ? Mr. Webster is to 
speak to-night.' The gentleman finding all classes so much delighted to hear that 
IMr. Webster was going to speak, ordered his horses to the stable, and put of!" his 
journey until the morrow. At early candlelight he went to the caucus room ; it was 
filled to overflowing ; but some persons seeing that he was a stranger gave way, and 
he found a convenient place to stand ; no one could sit. A tremendous noise soon 
announced that the orator had arrived ; but as soon as the meeting was organized, 
another arose to make some remarks upon the object of the caucus. He was heard 
with a polite apathy ; another and another came, anil all spoke well ; but this would 
not do, and if Chatham had been among them, or St. Paul, they would not have 
met the expectations of the niultiiude. The admired orator at length arose, and was 
for a while musing upon something, which was drowned by a constant cheering; 
but when order was restored, he went on with great serenity and ease to make his 
remarks, without apparently making the slightest attempt to gaiii applause. The 
audience was still, except now and then a uiuniuir of delight, which showed that 
the great massof the hearers were ready to hurst into a thunder of applause, if those 
who generally set the example would have given an intimation that it niiijht have 
been done; but they, devouring evi^ry word, made signs to))revent any interruption. 
The harangue was ended ; the roar of applause lasted long, unA was sincere and heart- 
felt. It was a strong, gentlemanly, and appropriate speech, but there was not a par- 
ticle of the demagogue about it; nolhing like the speeches on the hustings, to catch 
attention. He drew a picture of the candidates on both sides of the i)ueslion, and 
proved as far as reason and argument could prove, the superiority of those of his own 
choice; but the gentleman traveller, who was a very good judge, has c)ften said that 
the most extraordinary part of it was, that a promiscuous audience should have had 
sood sense enough to relish such sound, good reasoning, in a place where vague dec- 
lamalion generally is best received. As the traveller went on to the East, he found 



WFE OF DANIEL WEBSTBR. 11 

the fame of the speech had preceded him, and was talked of in eveiy bar-room and 

at every public table. 

In the year !S12, JMr. Webster was elected a representative to Congress from the 
State of New Hampshire. The election in that State is by general ticket. He came 
to his duties with a high reputation as a politician, althoush he had never been a 
member of any Legislature. It was well known that he hadmade hnnself acquainted 
with all the rules and orders of a deliberative body ; not only the ordinary routine of 
business, but the reasons on which these rules are founded were familiar to him. 
Hatsell was thorougldy studied, and all the other writers upon the subjeet from his 
time. It is often the case, that young members of Congress know but little of rules 
and orders, which in debate takes much from their case and conlidence. 

The war had been declared before he reached the halls of Coiigress, and his situa- 
tion was indeed a difficult one. National credit was shaking in the wind, and the 
public treasury nearly exhausted, when the Secretiiry of that department suggested 
the necessity of a bank, to revive the finances of the country. Mr. Webster saw a 
train of evils in the plan which was submitted to Congress, and in its passage through 
the House he proposed that the bill should be sent to the committee that reported it, 
with instructions to make several aineudments, which were offtired by him. These 
amendments changed the character of the bill in all its essential features, but the 
prominent changes proposed were, that the bank should never suspend specie pay- 
ments, nor be obliged to loan more to the Government than might be found conve- 
nient. The amendments did not i)ass. but his arguments in favor of them served to 
defeat the bill, which was done on a thinl reading, the sanie day. The speech of Mr. 
Webster is remarkable for a profound knovvledge of the principles on which the banks 
of the Old World had been founded, and a tliorough history of their proceedings ; 
and his arguments against this plan were overwhelming. He showed the evils of a 
circulating medium not founded on the basis of the precious metals, and unsupported 
by tne revenues of the nation. He exposed the dangers of giving an institution the 
power of suspending specie payments at will, and thereby destroying public credit. 
The treaty of Ghent soon followed, and public credit was in some measure revived -, 
but still there was an evil in collecting the public revenue, which in IS16, called loudly 
for a remedy. The paper of banks much under par was taken at the Treasury of- 
fice, and this upon the arbitrary decision of the Secretary of the Treasury ; selecting 
the bills of some banks and refusing those of others. Mr. Webster introduced soine 
resolutiiins and made an able speech on this subject. His own constituents, and in 
fact all New-England, were paying, and had paid in specie, or bills equivalent to it. 
The nation opened their eyes to this great injustice, and the evil was remedied. 

Mr. Webster having served four years in Congress, found that he could not leave 
his profession any longer, but must devote himself to it, to support a gro\ying family. 
He nad, while at Washington, measured his strength with the first minds in the coun- 
try, and felt that he had notliing to fear from superiority. His fame was all hard 
earned; he did not rise on the surges of pnrty commotion. He was in the minority, 
but secured the respect of the majority by pursuing an upright course. He never op- 
posed them when he thought they were right, nor feared them when he believed them 
to be wrong. He made no attacks merely to show his strength, but only to vindi- 
cate himself and his friends when they were Assailed. No one has shone in Congress 
with such a regular brightness, from the hour he first joined in the debates of that 
body, until the day of his departure from the capilol. 

His labors were not confined to the House of Representatives alorie, for he was 
engaged in the Supreme Court of the United Slates, in most of the important sub- 
jects discussed before it. Here he came in contact with many of the great lawyers 
of the day. William Pinkncy was then in the full blaze of his glory. The fame of 
his eloquence had gone abroad into all lands. Senators hung upon his lips with rap- 
ture, and sage judges listened to liim whole days with pleasure. Mr. Wirt was there 
also; he occut>ied a large space in the eyes of the court and of the nation. His elo- 
quence is of the most fascinating kind ; it convinces, persuades and delights : but 
Mr. Webster stood among these and others — Ogden, Jones and Sargeant, men of 
first rate minds, unaffected by comi)arison or rivalry. Perhaps no practitioner at this 
bar ever stood higher in the opinion of the court than Mr. Webster. This is the most 
dignified bocly that ever a lawyer argued before. All is still and solemn ; there are 
no equivocating witnrsses to manage — no sharp retorts from struggling Counsel to 
encounter, no whipping one's-self into pathos to call up the sympathies of the soft- 
hearted juryman; but every word is addressed to men whose passions have subsided, 
and who are only reached through the medium of the understanding. The lovers oi 
trick here have no chance of displaying their art, nor the pertinacious brow-beater 
his impudence. Every thing around the advocate is formed to inspire respect for 
himself and the court. 



,•2 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

r i,i;„ i;f„ Mr Wphcstpr found his pecuniary interests had suf- 

On returning from pubhc life, ^r. VVebster louna n^b p were disposed to beheve, 
fered from his lotig f^^nce from the courts and 1^^ Than Portsmouth. He had ai- 
that Boston would be a '""f ^f ^^^^^^^^^ metropohs of New- 

readv become identified vvith he imerestgo, i ^^^^ j^^ ^.^^ 

Eng and, and many of the opulent "^erciianib were .ea j i^ isi7. Boston was 

induced to believe, that he ought t« ^^^^^^^"7^1^ S°^ jj"^^^^ was living, and 
then the residence of some of 'j f,^,^ pdZrwitl out a rival in New-England. Pres- 
as an advocate ^ee'^^^d o be acluiow led^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^-^^ f,„^ Sa- 

cott, one of the most learned and P;^"^™';,„ "l^'J^^yag encased in al the commercial 
lem some half dozen V^ars before to Bo.ton,a« en a e ^^^^^ ^^^ ^ 

causes before the courts. These menj eienniui " ^ ^em . profession,-Sulli- 

siderable number of those "ear his own age who enTO^^ ^^^> .^ ^,^^ 

van, Shaw, Gorham, Hubbard ^Jid oUieis of the same cia ^^ ^^^^^^ 

courts, and had ^^ much^usine s as they cou d^ in ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ 

little room for another in the "W/rjoj/.Vcrowdln- onward; to the upper it lo 
Terriple of. Themis adventurers are every^daycro^^^ ^^^^ -^ ^^ . 

hard to gam access, but Mr. "'f'^^ter f^eiiRu u ^ ^^^^, nionths 

staring, 1)ut no one venturing to ^"f ''«^ his ri^n^o oe i ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^j. 

his name was found as senior Counsel in '"j^tiy '^„Pp°[ j^" he countv of Sutlblk, but 
it was his birth-place. His practice ^^a? not conhne i to me^, Plymouth, and 

extended to the. neighboring counties ot f^f ^J.^'J^le-ex, iw^^^^^ ^j^^^^^,^ 

still further. His powers as an advocate and a ay er^ ere a o however, 

some found fault with his manners at the bar as severe aim^.^ It was in vain 

was soon forgotten in the admiral^uj tha every where^oHowea ^. ^,^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ 

S JToFIhe^^UeC^retlh^nS'and'm^ community their power ib k- 

^^f^n'^after Mr. Webster was -'fled in Boston, he - called ;o the ^ -^<^^,«[. 
Essex, to defend two prisoners by the naine of A«nmton.^ i^^^^ -j ^^ ^^ 

having robbed a Major Good rieli,, in that cx^unty on t^^e ct^ ^^^ ^.^_ 

cember, 1817. The public had been much agitate W J,^^ ^^^^ -^ 

linguished himself when the B"t,sh landed at Ban o.,mM ^^^^^^ ^^.^^ ^^^^ 
good credit in that place. The circumfetances ot,t"V'^"he evening, in Newburv, on 
lingular. It was alleged to have ta'^ei place early m the e%ening through the 

the" main post-road from Portsmouth to Boston ^^^^ ^g^^J^^i^/^^und was small, 
palm of the left hand, between the th.d and o^th^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ on the ground, 
Some of the money sad t^o have been taken iron mspc ^ ■ the robbery with- 
to which he stated he had been carred for th^ purpose o^^^^^ j^j^^ ^ 

rich, and he was going on irR.inphantly to conviLt the prsone^r^^^^^ ^^^^^ |^_ 

laritiesof his story gave rise to f,^P "^oof'-Sded Tncl tie whole matter thoroughly 
termined that the Prisonersshould he vvel defended an ^^^^^j .^ j,^^ 

investigated ; and lor this Purposc Mr Webstei ^^as tii a«eU to o ^^ ^^^ ^^_ 

defence. When he came to the court .he was "ot aPpi'^ea oi h ^ ^^^^^ 

fence, on which the prisoner's counsel '" f »f d o r ly, namuy, u ti^ntlv 

robbery. He was startled at the suggestioi w lu^ i^ va^^^^^^ conclusion 

hearing a detailed account of all the circumstances vvhicti 1 ad lut^^^ ^^^^ 

that this was the right defence, he, after weighing hem thoro„^^ 
opinion that there had been no robbery, and dir.c ed the ^"J;!,'^[;^fE'^^'°/°Goodnch 
defence. He had never argued a cause befo e t^the cmimy oi tbs^ 
had manv respectable connexions in the county He ^^ as born at uanver. , 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTEU. 13 

withm tlie limits of the county. His connexions and friends were good, honest peo- 
ple and hail no suspicion of any foul play in the afiair. They flocked from atlection 
and curiosity to the trial. The nature of the defence Nvas noi known, except to a 
lew before it was opened. The .Solicitor General proved the robbery and guilt of the 
prisoners to the satisfaction of all in the court-house. Tjje cross-exannnation by 
Mr Webster was terhfick. He fixed his eyes upon Goodri ;h, and put his ques- 
tion^ with such adroitness and force, and with such a heavy solemn tone of voice, 
that in less than ten minutes he had made several palpable contradictions in his tes- 
timony This advantage was followed up with great skill, an 1 before the prosecutor 
had left the stand, public opinion was decidedly against him. The argument of Mr. 
Webster followed; it was convincing, conclusive, unanswerable. He seized the 
strong points of the defence, and handled them with a giant's power. The pre.iudicca 
against the Kennistons were removed, and a weight ot moral guilt thrown on the 
prosecutor that has never been removed to this day. The Solicitor General was at 
once convinced by the argument he had heard, that Goodrich was a .sell-robber, but 
he struggled manfully against his own convictions and the impressions of the jury, 
and in fact of the audience ; for in such instances there is an inliuence in the looks 
of the audience which often reaches the jury-box, and sometimes the bench of justice. 
The judge who sat in ihc cause, was a distant relation of the Major s, but he tried it 
with gref.t fairness and independence. His charge to the jury was lucid and impar- 
tial, and the result was an acquittal of the prisoners. The people of Esse.x are among 
the most enlightened portions of the United States, but they are, like all enlightened 
people, of a mercurial temperament., and the current of their feelings set against the 
prisoners; but this current was met and turned by the arguments addressed to their 
understandings. There was no appeal to their sympathies for these imbecile, hum- 
ble and ijiiiable beinss: the .single question presented was, are they, or are they not 
guilty? The triumph of truth and talents was complete. The eves ol the audience 
wtre riveted on the advocate while he was speaking, and followed him \yhen he left 
the court-house. This was the first argument of importance he had made in his newly 

adopted State. , . , ,.. i ^^ u u- i 

In the year 1818, Mr. Webster was engaged in the Dartmouth College case, whicM 
had made a great excitement in New England. In 1616, the Legislature of INew- 
Hampshire, believing that the right of altering or amending the charter ot this college, 
which had been granted bv the king previous to the revolution, was vested in them 
by the constitution of the State, proceeded to enlarge and improve it. This act was 
not accepted nor assented to by the trustees of Dartmouth College, and they refused 
to submit to it anv further than thity were compelled to do so by the necessities ol the 
case. The new institution, called by the act of the Legislature 'The Dartmouth 
University,' went into operation, as far as existing circumstances would ptrnut. 
There were two Presidents, two sets of Professors in the same village, and of course, 
no t^ood fellowship between them. The students generally took side with the college 
party, a few only going over to the university. It was a very uncomfortable state of 
things. The Faculty of both institutions were highly respectable, and capable of 
building up any literary and scientific seminary, had they been under difierent auspices. 
The lawyers were consulted, and the most distinguished of them, Smith, Mason, and 
Webster were of the opinion, that the act of the Legislature of New-Hampshire was 
unconstitutional, and of course not valid. It was conceded, that there \yere nianv 
difficulties in the case ; but it was indispensable, that the question should be decided, 
that one of the institutions might survive the quarrel. The records, charter, and the 
evidence of the college property, were in the hands of the new treasurer, and an action 
of trover was brought by the trustees of Dartmouth College to recover them. The 
facts were agreed on. The question ' whether the acts ol the Legislature ot New- 
Hampshire of the 27th of June, a, id of the IBth and I8lh of December, 1816, are valid 
and binding on the rights of the plaiutiHs, wilhout their acceptance or absent?' 

It was a'grcat eon.sutulional question. The people of Massachusetts took as deep 
an interest m it as those of New-Hampshire. The cause was ably argued before the 
Supreme Court of New-Hampshire, and the opinion of the court was given by Chief- 
Justice Richardson, in favor of the validity and constituticiality of the acts of the 
Lc'-'islature, and judgment was accordingly entered up for thj defendant. Thereupon, 
a writ of error was sued out by the plaintilFs in the original suit, and the cause re- 
moved to the Supreme Court of the United States. In March, 1S18, the cause was 
argued before all the judges, bv Mr. Webster and Mr. Ho{ iinson for the plainiifis, 
and by Mr. Holmes and Mr. Wirt for the defendant in eiror. The anxiety of the 
parties, the great constitutional principle involved, the deep interest felt by every 
lawyer in the country in the deci.sion of the question, gave more notoriety to the 
cause than to any ever brou:.dil before that august tribunal. Some were apprehensive 
that the court would evade the question in some way or other. Mr. Webster had no 

2 



14 LIFE OF DAMEL WEBSTER. 

such fears. He knew the judges well enough to believe, that while they were not 
anxious to meet constitutional questions, whenever tliey were fully broujjht before 
them the subject would be most solemnly considered and as fearlessly decided. The 
question was argued on both sides with great ability. The counsel were men of re- 
search, and their reputations were in the case, for it was well known whatever way 
it was decided, it would form a leading case. Mr. Webster came to his work fully 
possessed of all the views that could be taken of the subject, and he sustained and 
increased by this argument the reputation he had acquired as a profound constitutional 
lawyer. The judgment of the State court was reversed — the acts of the Legislature 
declared null and void as being unconstitutional. The University disappeared, the 
college rose with new vigor, and the people of New-Hampshire acquiesced in the 
decision, and a great portion of the thinking people of the country considered it as a 
new proof of the wisdom and strength of the constitution of the United States. 

In 1820, the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts thought it was time to 
revise their State constitution. There were soine things in it which required amend- 
ment, particularly the oath of attachment and adherence to the independence of the 
commonwealth, and the adjuration of allegiance to all foreign princes and potentates 
whatsoever, wore not a little of the drapery of revolutionary suspicion ; and, as the 
letter of the oath was construed, it was supposed to e.\tend to the exclusion of all 
Catholics from every office under the government of the commonwealth. It was 
also thought that the number of representatives which the towns had aright to send 
wasfar too many for prompt and sagacious legislation. Infact forty years had passed 
away since the old constitution was formed, and a free people wished to come 
together to discuss the blessings of liberty, and to e.xaniine their charter and see if 
there were not some amendments to be made. This was natural, as for the lord of the 
manor to e.xamine his grounds, or the miser to count liis gold. The conyeniion was 
large, composed of all classes of that enlightened eojnmunity. The distinguished 
statesmen, of course, were in tliat body; la\N-yers, who had not become statesmen, 
were there also. Clergymen, who had never before departed from the duties of their 
parish and the care of .souls, found themselves in this great body, they hardly knew 
how — ready to assist in revising the constitution; and medical men, whose field of 
fame had been in the lecture-room, or in the anatomical theatre, or in the walks of 
the hospital, now found themselves collected with others to amend the constitution. 
Indeed, men of all pursuits in life were congregated for the purpose of discussing the 
best model of a republican constitution. For weight, talents, acquirements, moral 
worth and political science, this body was superior to any one ever assembled in New 
England. Their first act, \vas one of duty and gratitude; this was in electing the 
venerable .John Adams, of Quincy, to preside over their deliberations. The old con- 
stitution was from his pen. He declined the appointment, and the accomplished 
Chief .Justice of the Commonwealth, Isaac Parker, was chosen in his place. Look 
over the hall which way you would, and virtue, genius, experience, clustered iri every 
quarter. Here, were heads silvered with age, — there, bosoms swelling with patriotism, 
and everv where tongues of fire to pour out the tide of eloquence. To the republican 
philosopher it was a sight full of pleasure and pride. The youths of the land gazed 
with wonder on the scene, and as they had venerated each as individuals, they now 
almost adored the collected whole. No nnin looked upon the assembly with a keener 
eye and a deeper feeling than the Nestor of the convention— Adams. Some of his 
compatriots were there; many of a succeeding generation were there; hut the actors 
were men of a third generation. He had known l)ut a fiw of the li<t. and was de- 
lighted to find so much character and intelligence among tliein. Ti,,; improvements 
of the age were all familiar tn them. From the loop-holes of retreat, 'v. sound health, 
he had watched the advancements in knowledge in t!ie old \\orld, and he was de- 
lighted to find his young countrymen had marched onward with equal step. He had 
no fears for the residt of their tielibeiations ; the seal of fiei'dom and the stamp of 
knowledge were set too deeply to be injured by any new feeiings or reasoning, nor had 
he any apprehension for their lieads or hearts, as he was delighted in mimliering, 
measuring or gauging, the capacities of his younger I'ountryinen. He considered Mr. 
Webster as decidedly the great man of this assci' biy, and with his usual oi>ennes3 
avowed his opinion ; it was the general opinion, af i freely acknowledged by all. On 
almost every subject, Mr. Webster was necessarily called out, and ac(jnitted himself 
with honor; but there were some questions agitated in that assembly in which he 
took a very conspicuous part. On tiie resolution relative to the oaths of otliee, Mr. 
Webster made a speech full of sound sense; he advocated the principle, that the 
people had a right to insist on a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion from 
those who accepted offices, as offices were the gift of the people, and not a matter of 
right; stiJl he did not think the requisition ab'^ointely necessary, or essential, as the 



LIFE OF DANIKL WEBSTER. 15 

ppople were fully guarded in tliis respect by tlie very general belief in the Christian 
religion in the community. , , . ., , 

'It is obvious,' said JMr. Webster, 'that the principal alteration proposed by the 
first resolution, is the omission of the declaration of belief in tiie Chri.stian religiin, as 
a qualification for office, in the cases of the governor, lieutenant-governor, counsel- 
lor.*, ami mi'iubeis of the Legislature. I shall content myself on tiiis occasion with 
staiincshortlv and generally, the sentiments of the select committee, asl understand 
them, "on llie subject of this'resolution. Two questions naturally present liicniselvrs. 
in the first place, have the people a right, if in their judgment the security of their gov- 
ernment and its due administration demand it, to require a declaration of belief in the 
Christian religion, as a qualification or condition of ofRre/ On this question, a ma- 
jority of the committee held a decided opinion. They thought the i)eople had such a 
Vit'ht. By the fundauiental principle of popul;ir and elective governiueiUs, all office 
is in the free gift of the people. Tiiey may grant, or they may withiiold it at pleasure ; 
and if it be for them, and them only, to decide v.'hether they will grant office, it is for 
them to decide, also, on what terms, and with what coiidiiious tlu^v will grant it. 
Xothing is more unfounded than the notion that any man has a risht to an otrice. 
This must depend on the clioice of others, and consequently upmi the o|)iniqnsof oth- 
ers, in relation to his fitnes-;and qualification for office. No man can be said to have 
a risht to that, which others may withiiold from him at pleai-iire. There are certain 
rights, no doubt, which the whole people, or the government as representing the whole 
people, owe to each individual, in return for tliat ol)edieiice and personal service, and 
proportionate contributions to the public i)urdens, which each individual owes to the 
government. These riahts are stated with sufficient accuracy in the tenth article of 
the Bill of rights, in this constitution. " Each individual in society has a riglit to be 
protected b\' it in the enjoyment of his life, liberiv. and property, acconhng to tlie 
standing laws." Here is no right of office enumerated ; no right of governing oiher.-^, 
or of bearing rule in the State. All bestovvment of office remaining in the discn^lion 
of the people, they have of course a right to regulate it, by any rules which tb.ey niay 
deem expedient. Hence the people, by their constitution, prescribe certain qualifica- 
tions for office, respecting age, property, residence, &c. But if office, merely as such, 
were a right, which each individual under the social compact was entitled to claiiii, 
all these qualifications would be indefensible. The acknowledged rights are not siib- 
jei;t, and ought not to be subject, to any such limitanon. The right of being protected, 
in life, liberty, and estate, is due to all, and cannot be justly denied to any, whatever 
be their age, property, or residence in the State. These qualification.s, then, can only 
be made requisite as qualifications for office, on the ground that ojfice is not what any 
man can demand, as matter of right, but rests in the confidence and gooil will of 
those who are to bestow it. In short, it seems to me too plain to be questioned, that 
the right of office is a matter of discretion and option, and can never be claimed by 
any man on tlie ground of obligation. It would seem to follow, then, that those wbi) 
confer office may annex any such conditions to it as they think proper. If they prei.r 
one man to another, they may act on that pi-eference. If they regard certain personal 
(lualifieatious, tliev inav act accordinglv, and ground of complaint is given to nobody. 
Between two candidates, otlierwi.se winally qualified, the iieople at an election may 
decide in favor of one because he is a Cbrisiian, and against the other because he is 
not. They may repeat this preference at the ne.xt election, on the same ground, and 
intiy continue it from year td year. Now, if the people inay, without injustice, act 
upon this preferenite, and from a sole regard to this qualification, and refuse in any 
instance to depart from U, tliev have an equally clear riglit to prcxcrihe this aualific:i- 
tion beforehand, as a rule for their future government. If they may do it, they may 
a'_'ree todo it. If they deem it necessary, tliev may so say beforehand. If the public 
will may require this i|ualificatioii at every election as it occairs, the public will m.iy 
declare itself beforehand ; and mtike such qualification a standing requisite. That 
cannot be an unjust rule, the compliance with which, in every case, would be riglit. 
This qualification has nothing to do witii any man's conscience,. If he dislike tlio 
condition, he rnay decline the office; in like manner as if he dislike the salary, the 
rank, or any thing else which the law atiaches to it. However clear the right may 
l)e, (.ind I can hariily suppose any gentleman will dispute it,) the e.vvi.diency of rt.'tain- 
ing the declaration is a more difficult question. It is said not to be necessary, l)c- 
caiise, in this Commoinveahh, mnetv-.iine out of every hundred of thi; inhabiiiints 
profess to believe in the Christian religion. It is suffi<ient.ly certain, therefore, thai 
persons of this description, and none others, will ordinarily be chosen to ))hti'es of 
jjublic trust. . There is as much security, it is saitl, on this subject, as the necessity of 
the case requires. And as there is a sort of oporobrium— a markiiig out. for observa- 
tion and censorious remark, a single individual, or a very few individuals, who may 
jiot be able to make iht decl;;ratioii,— it is an act. if not of injustice, yet of unkindness, 



16 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

and of unnecessary rigor, to call on such individuals lo make the declaration. There 
is also another class of objections, which have been slated. It has been said, that 
there are many very devout and serious persons— persons who esteem the Christian re- 
ligion to be above all price— to whom, nevertheless, the terms of this declaration seem 
somewhat too strong and intense. They seem, to these persons, to require the de- 
claration of that /aii/(- which is deemed essential to personal salvation; and, there- 
fore, not at all fit to be adopted by those who profess a belief m Christumuy merely, 
in a more popular and general sense. It certainly appears to me, that this is a mis- 
taken interpretation of the terms; that they imply only a general assent to the 
truth of the Christian revelation, and, at most, to the supernatural occurrences which 
establish its authenticitv. There may, however, and there appears to be, i:unscunce 
in this objection ; and all conscience ought to be respected. I was iiot aware, beiore 
I attended the discussions in the committee, of the e.Ktent to which thisohjtction pre- 
vailed. There is one other consideration to which I will allude, although it was not 
ur>'ed in committee. It is this. This qualification is made applicable only to the e.xecii- 
ti\T and the members of the Legislature. It would not be easy, perhaps, to say why it 
should not be extended to the judiciary, if it were thought necessary lor any office. 
There can be no office in which the sense of a religious responsibility is more neces- 
•■^ary, than in that of a judge; especially of those judges who pass, m the last resort, 
on 'the lives, liberty and property of every man. There may be among legislators, 
strong pns.s!ons and bad passions. There may be party heats and personal bitter- 
ness. Kut legislation is in its nature general : laws usually ailect the whole society ; 
and if ndschievous or unjust, the whole society is aianned, and seeks their rtpeaL 
The ludieiary power, on the other hand, acts directly on individuals. The injured may 
fiiflt-r, without sympathy or the hope of redress. The last hope of the innocent, t^iii- 
der accusation, and in distress, is in the integrityof his judges. It this lail, ad fails ; 
and there is no remedy on this side the bar of Heaven. Gf all places, therelore, 
there is none which so imperatively demands that he whooccupK?s it should be under 
the fear of God, and above all other fear, as the situation of a judge. For these rea-_ 
sons, perhaps, it might be thought that the constitution has not gone far enough, ii 
tlie provisions already in it were deemed necessary to the public security. I believe 
I have stated the substance of the reasons which appeared to have weight with the 
committee. Vot my own part, finding this declaration in the constitution, and hearing 
of no practical evil resulting from it, I should have been willing to retain it, UIlle^s 
considerable objection had been expressed to it. If others were satisfied with it, I 
should be. I do not consider it, however, essential to retain it, as there is another 
part of the constitution which recognises, in the fullest manner, the benefits which 
civil society derives from those Christian institutions which cherish piety, morality 
and religion. I am conscious that we should not strike out of the constitution all 
recognition of the Christian religion. 1 am desirous, in so solemn a transaction as 
the establishment of a constitution, that we should keep in it an expression of our 
respect and attachment to Christianity ;— not, indeed, to any of its pecuhar lorms, but 
to its general principles.' . ■ i r^ 

There was another impression, which had become qiute prevalent in the Convcn- 
Tion, among many who formerly were sturdy advocates for an opposite doctrine — 
namely, that the Commonwealth's senators should be based upon iiopuhition, as 
well as the other branch of the Legislature, and that districts should he made upon 
this principle. Mr. Webster's argument on this article was elaborate and poweilul. 
He entered into the great principles of checks and balances in a political eonsiilution. 
The argument was warmly opposed by many w ho might be supposed to he inleresttd 
<in his side, of the iiuesiiou. Tnis speech had a most wonderful eflecl, anil many of 
the members who had been of a ditierent opinion, declared that they were coiiviiued 
that he was right. In this argument he brought the experience of all times to bear 
upon the subject so fully and happily, that those who opposed him siill, lost much of 
the zeal with which they had supported the other side of the debate at the commence- 
ment of it. 

The third prominent speech in this Convention was made upon a resohition to 
alter the Consti<ution so that judicial idticers shall be removable by the Governor 
and Council upon the address of two-thirds, instead of a majority, of each branch ot^ 
the Legislature; and that the Legislature have power to create a Supreme Court of 
Equity and Court of Appeals. The remarks of Mr. Webster were so brief and so 
compact, and yet so full of sound sense on these subjects, that an extract from the 
speech would do him injustice, therefore we give it entire. 

'Regrets are vain for what is past; yet I hardly know how it has been thought to 
boa regular course of proct<e(iing. logo into committee on this subject, before takint? 
up the several pmiwisitions which now await their final readings on the President'.^ 
xable. The oonsequeiK>? is, that this question comes on by surprise. The chuinuaii 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 



17 



of the select committee is wn present; many of the most distiiigmshed members of 
the convention nre personallv so situated, as not to he wiiUns to take pan in the 
debate,— and the first law officer of the government, a member of the commutee, 
happens at this moment to be in a place (the cliair of the committee of the whole) 
which deprives us of the benefit of his observations. Under these eircumstanees, 1 
had hoped the committee would rise; it has, however, been determined otherwise, and 
1 must thi'refore bei? thtir indulaeiiee while 1 make a few ob.servations. 

'As thecon.stituiion now stands, all judges are liable to be removed from office, by 
the Governor, with the consent of the couneil, on the address of the two houses of the 
I.csislature. It is not made neeessarv that ihe two houses should give any reasonstor 
their address, or that the judge should have an opportunity to be heard. I look upon 
tliis as a^'ainst common fight, as well as repugnant to the general principles of the 
Governmeni. The commission of the judge purports to be, on the lace of it, during 
good behavior. He has an interest in his office. To give an authorilv to the Legis- 
lature to deprive him of this, without trial or accusation, is manifestly to place the 
judges at the pleasure of the Legislature. , • j 

'Tlie question is not what the Legislature probably will do, but what they may do. 
If the judges, in fact, hold their offices only so long as the Legislature see fit, theri it 
is vain and illusorv to sav that the judges are independent men, incapable of being ui- 
liuem-ed by hope or bv fear; but the tenure of their office is not independent Ihe 
general theory and principle of the Governmeni isbroken in upon, by giving the Legis- 
lature this power. The departmeiiis of Government are not equal, co-ordinate and 
independen;, while one is thus at the mercy of the others. What would be said of a 
pro;)osition to authorize the Governor or judges to remove a senaior, or member of 
the house of representatives from office? And yet, the general theory of the consti- 
tution is to make ihe judges as independent as members of tliH Legislature. I know 
not wheihera greater improvement has been made in government thai) to sepa- 
rate tlie jndiciarv from the executive and legislative branches, and to provide for tne 
decision of private riuhis, in a manner, wholly uninfluenced by reasons of state, or 
considerations of party or of poliev. It is the glorv of the British constitutmn to have 
led in the establislimeiU of this most important principle. It did not exist m Kngland 
before the revolution of 16.^S, and its introduction has seemed to give a new enaraeter 
to the tribunals. It is not necessarv to state the evils which had been experienced, n 
that countrv, from d^pend.-nt and 'time-serving judges. In matters of mere propri- 
ety, in cause.s of no political or public bearing, they might perhaps be safely trusted ; 
but in great questions concerning public libertv. or the rights of the subject, they wen , 
ill too rnnnv cases, not fit to be trusted at all. Who woukf now quote Scroggs, or Saun- 
ders, or Jertiies. on a question concerning the riglit of the habeas corpus, or the right o! 
suffrage, or the libertv of thepres.s, or any other subject closely conneettd with politi- 
cal freedom '? Vet oh all these subjects, the sentiments of the English judges since 
the revolution— of Somers, Holt, Jreby, Jckyl, &c. are, in general, favorable to eivil 
liberiy, and receive and deserve great attention, whenever referred to. Indeed, Alassn- 
chusetts herself knows, bv her own historv. what is to be expected from dependent 
judges. Her own charter was declared forfeited, without a hearing, in a court where 
such judges aat. , , . ,,.•/• 

' When Charles the second, and his brother after him, attempted the destruction of 
chartered rights, both in ihe kingdom and out of it, the viode was by judgments 
obtained in the courts. It is well known, that after the prosecution against ihe city of 
Londmi was commenced, and while it was pending, the judges were changed ; and 
Saunders, who had been consulted on the occasion, and had advised tlie proceeding on 
tiie part of tliecrown, was made ehief-justicefor the very purpose of giving a judgment 
in favor of the crown ; his predecessor being removed to make room for him. Since 
the revoluiion of 16<$, an entire new charter has been given to English judicature. 
The judges have been made independent, and the benefit has been widely and deeply 
felt. Asimilar improvement seems to have made its way into Scotland. Before ihe 
union of the kingdoms, it cannot be said that there was any judicial independence in 
Scotland; and the highest names in Scottish jurisprudence have been charged with 
being under influences which could not. in modern times, be endured. It is even said 
that the prar^tice of entails did not extensively exist in Scotland till about the time of 
the reigns of the last princes of the Stuart race, and was then introduced to guard 
against unjust forfeitures. It is strange, indeed, that this should happen at so late a 
period, and that a most unnatural and artificial state of property should be owing to 
the fear of dependent judieaiures. I might add here, that the heritable jurisdictiuiis, 
the greatest almost of all evils, were not abolished in Scotland till about the middle 
of the last century ; so slowly does improvement make progress when opposed by igno- 
rance, prejudice or interest. , i i 
In our own country, it was for years a topic of complaint, before the revolution, 

2* 



18 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

that justice was administered, in some of the colonies, by judges dependent on the 
Britisti crown. The Declaration of Independence itself, puts forth this as a prominent 
grievance, among those which justified the revolution. Tlie British king, ir declares, 
had made judges dependent on his own will alone, for the tenure of their offices." 
It was therefore to be expected, that in establishing their own governments, this im- 
portant point of the independence of the judicial power would be regarded by the 
States. Some of them have made greater, and others less provision on this subject; 
the more recent constitutions, I believe, being generally framed with the most and best 
guards for judicial independence. 

'Those who oppose any additional security for the tenure of judicial office, have 
pressed to know what evil has been experienced — what injury has arisen from the 
constitution as it is. Perhaps none ; — but if evils probably may arise, the question is, 
whether the subject be not so important as to render it prudent to guard against that 
evil. If evil do arise, we may be sure it will be a great evil ; if this power should hap- 
pen to be abused, it would be most mischievous in its consequences. It is not a suffi- 
cient answer, to say that we have as yet felt no inconvenience. We are bound to look 
to probable future events. We have, loo, the experience of other States. Connecticut, 
having had judges appointed annually, from the time of Charles the second, in the re- 
cent alteration of her constitution, has provided, that hereafter they shall hold their 
offices during good behavior, subject to removal on the address of two-thirds of each 
house of the Legislature. In Pennsylvania, the judges may be removed, "for any 
rt'asonable cause," on the address of tico-lhird& of the two houses. In some of the 
i^ tales, three-fourths oi each house is required. The new constitution of Maine has 
a provision, with which I should be content ; which is, that no judge shall be liable 
to be removed by the Legislature till the matter of his accusation has been 
made known to him, and he has had an opportunity of being heard in his defence. — 
This seems no more than common justice ; and yet it is much greater than any secu- 
rity which at present exists in the constitution of this commonwealth. 

'It will be found, if I mistake not, that there are not more than two or three, out of 
all the States, which have left the tenure of judicial office at the entire pleasure of the 
Legislature. It cannot be denied, that one great object of written constitutions is to 
keep the departments of Government as distinct as possible ; and for this purpose to 
impose restraints. And it is equally true, that there is no department on which it is 
more necessary to impose restraints than the Legislature. Tlie tendency of things is 
almost always to augment thepowerof that department, in its relation to the judiciary. 
The judiciary is composed of few persons, and those not such as mix habiiu;dly in the 
pursuits and objects which most engage public men. They are not, or never should 
be, political men. They have often unp'easant duties to perform, and their conduct is 
often liable to be canvassed and censured, where their reasons for it are not known, 
or cannot be understood. The Legislature holds the public purse. It fixes the com- 
pensation of all other departments: it applies, as well as raises, all revenue. It is a 
numerous body, and necessarily carries along with it a great force of pubhc opinion. Its 
members are public men, in constant contact with one another, anci with their constit- 
uents. It would seem to be plain enough, that, without constitutional provisions 
which should be fixed and certain, such a department, in case of excitement, would 
be able to encroach on the judiciary. Therefore is it, that a security of judicial inde- 
pendence becomes necessary ; and the question is, whether that independence be at 
present sufficiently secured. 

'The constitution being the supreme law, it follows of course, that every act of the 
Legislature, contrary to tnat law, rnust be void. But who shall decide this question ? 
Shall the Legislature itself decide it? If so, then the constitution ceases to be a legal 
and becomes only a moral restraint on the Legislature. If they, and they only, are to 
judge whether their acts be conformable to the constitution, then the constitution ia 
admovitorv or advisory only ; not legally binding ; because, if the construct ion of it 
rests wholly with them, their discretion, in particular cases, may be in favor of very 
erroneous and dangerous constructions. Hence the courts of law, necessarily, when 
the case arises, must decide upon the validity of particular acts. — These cases are rare, 
at least in this Commonwealth ; but they would proliably be less so, if the power of 
the judiciary, in this respect, were less respectable than it is. 

'it is the tlieory and plan of the constitution to restrain the Legislature, as well as 
other deiiartments, and to subject their acts to judicial decision, whenever it appears 
that such acts infringe constitutional limits; and without this check, no cerlam limi- 
tation could exist on the exercise of legislative power. The constitution, for exam- 
ple, declares, that the Legislature shall not suspend the benefit of the svrit oi habeas 
corpus, except under certain limitations. If a law should happen to be jiassod restrain- 
ing personal lilwrty, and an individual, fccling()ppressed by it, should apply for his ha- 
beas corpus, must not the judges deadie what is the benefit oi habeas coi-pus, intended 



\ 



UFE OF DAMF-L WF.BPTriJ. 19 

by the constitution; what it is to suspend if, and wiiether the afts of the Lcfiislature 
do, in the given case, conform to the constitution ? All llicse questions would of 
course arise. The jud^e is bound by his oath to decide iiccordiiis to law. The con- 
stitution is the supreme law. Any act of the Legislature, therefore, inconsistent with 
that supreme law, must yield to it ; and any judse, secint^ this inconsistency, and yet 
Sivina; etiect to the law, would violate both his duty and his oath. But it is evident 
that this power, to be useful, must be lodged in independent hands. If the Legislature 
may remove judges at pleasure, assigning no cause for such removal, of course it is 
not to be e.xpecied that they would often tind decisions against the constitutionality 
of their own acts. If the Legislature should unhappily, be in a temper to do a violent 
thing, it would probably lake care to see that the bench of justice was so constituted 
as to agree with it iu opinion. 

'It is unpleasant to allude lo other Slates for negative examples; yet, if anyone were 
inclined to the imiuiry, it might be found, that cases had happened in which laws, 
known to be at best very questionable as to their consistency with the constitution, 
had been passed ; and at the same session, effectual measures taken, under the power 
of removal by address, to create a new bench. Such a coincidence might be accidental ; 
but the happening of such accidents often w'ould destroy the balance of free govern- 
ments. The history of all the States, 1 believe, shows the necessity of settled limits 
to legislative power. There are reasons, entirely consistent with upright and patriotic 
motives, which, nevertheless, evince the danger of legislative encroachments. The 
subject is fully treated by j\Ir. Madison, in some numbers of the Federalist, which well 
deserve the consideration of the convention. 

' There is nothing, after all, so important to individuals as the upright administration 
of justice. This comes home to every man ; life, libi rtv, reputation, property, all de- 
pend on this. No Government does its duty to ihe people, which docs not make ample 
and stable jirovision for the exercise of tlii.s part of its powers. Nor is it enough, that 
there are courts which will deal justly with mere private questions. We look to the 
judicial tribunal for protection against illegal or unconstitutional acts, from whatever 
quarter they may proceed. The courts of law, independent judges, and cnlightencil 
juries, are citacblsof popular liberty, as well as lemiiles of private justice. The most 
es.sential rights connected with political liberty, are there canvassed, discussed, and 
inainlained; and if it should at any time so happen that these rights should be invaded, 
there is no remedy but a reliance on ihe courts, to protect and vindicate them. There 
is danger, also, that legislative bodies will sometimes pass laws interfering with other 
private rights, besides those connected with i)olitical liberty. Individuals are too apt 
to apply to the legislative power to interfere with private cases, or private property; 
and such applications sometimes meet with favor and.support. There would be no secu- 
rity, if these interferences were not subject to some subsequent constitutional revision, 
where all parties could be heard, and justice administered according to standing laws. 

'These considerations are among those which, in myopimon, render an independent 
judiciary equally essential to the preservation of private rights and public liberty. I 
lament the necessity of deciding this question at the present moment ; and should hope, 
il" such immediate decision were not demanded, that some modification of this report 
might prove acceptable to the committee, since, in my judgment, some provision, be- 
yond what exists in the present constitution, is necessary.' 

While Mr. Webster was engaged in the arduous duties of xho. Convention, he was 
called, by a voice he could not resist, to again bring himself belbre the public. This 
call was from the Pilgrim Society, who were to assemble at Plymouth to conimemo- 
rate the close of the second century, since the landing of llieir forefathers, on the 2'2(l 
of December, lti'2(i ; and to usher in the third century with feelings elevated hut chast- 
ened, and to pour out their hearts in gratitude for the past, while their souls were lighted 
np with hopes for future generations. The Society had existed for many years, and 
several judicious sermons and orations had been delivered before that body of men, 
who wished to keep alive a just remembrance of their ancestors; but never was the 
excitement among the sons of the pilgrims so great as at this anniversary. Two hun- 
dred years had pas.-^ed away since the event they celebrated, and time-honored monu- 
ments w<?re scattered througli the country. The nation was at peace with all the 
world. The trees which the pilgrims once planted had grown great and prolific, 
and their children alone plucked tlie fruit. There was no spoih r in the land, and all 
traces of a hostile foot were oblin rated from the soil of their birth-place. 1'he scat- 
tered remnants of tlu' red men wire now regarded with compassion, not with fear; 
the aborigines had fallen like autumnal leaves, and no second spring had renewed them. 
The little cloud, which appeared two centuries ago not bigger than a man's hand on 
the horizon, had now spread over the whole hemisphere, to refresh the country. The 
sufterings of the pilgrims coidd not now be spared ; no, not one of ihem, for they at 
this period shone as gems in a martyr's crown. No ordinary voice could have sung 



20 l.IFE or BAMEL WEESTEH. 

the requiem of two centuries : no common hand co\ild have written their epitaphs; 
and no prophet of partial inspiration could have ventured upon the unborn ages, which 
crowded on their souls. 

The orator came to his task as one prepared, — as one deeply read in the mouldering 
monuments of his country's deeds. Their acts of peace and of war were in his 
mind. Their sufferings and their triumphs were all in the possession of his memory; 
and all, all, were embalmed in his affections. His audience were collected from all 
tjuarters, and prepared to hail him as a seer, declaring the past and opening up the fu- 
ture. The past was full of glories. The warrior might have found in it lessons of 
heroic valor; the philosopher, of wisdom ; and thenoly man, of piety. The orator 
had no sectarian views to gratify, no cankering prejudices to indulge, no fancied in- 
ferences to make from doubtful records. He stood among them as an enlightened 
statesman, a lover of his country, that had his whole heart ; a country, whose records 
he held as sacred, whose hopes were connected with the best interests of man. He 
was there, as every where else, a friend of religion; but not a religious partiznn; one 
who believes 'that whatever disunites man from God, disunites man from man.' 
' Let us rejoice,' said the orator, ' that we behold this day ; let us be thankful that we 
liave lived to see the bright and happy breaking of this auspicious morn, which com- 
mences the third century of the history of New-England.' He summoned the high- 
est faculties of our nature to connect time and place, to look before and after, and 
hold communion with our ancestors and our posterity. He called up the ^enivs of 
the place to bring back and put before them the mighty dend_, whose graves had first 
(•ons(?erated the soil with tlic hopes of the resurrection and the life tocomc. He sketched 
the history of the wanderings of the pilgrims with a master-hand, and pointed our 
the difference between them and all other colonies of ancient or modern tiines ; their 
steadfast adherence to the best priu'^iples of civil and religious liberty; their com- 
mercial enterprizes; their determined courage; and their hardy growth, were de- 
Kcnbed with force and elegance. The war of independence was remembered, and 
the slave trade attacked, without fearing those who might be offended. The religious 
character of our fathers was incorporated in all they did, and all they hoped; and 
the remembrance of it breathes through the whole of this speech. 

There was one subject touched upon in Mr. Webster's speech,— the law of succes- 
sion, — that should be noticed, for it shows a deep knowledge of the effect of our in- 
stitutions; and what he then hazarded as a conjecture in regard to this law of suc- 
cession in France, has proved an overwhelming truth in a fifth part of the time he 
allowed for the political effect it has produced. 

Before Mr. Webster took his seat in Congress, from the district of Suffi^lk, in Mas- 
sachusetts, the whole American people, with a few exceptions, had espoused the 
cause of the Greeks. The shrieks which arose from the massacre of Scio had been 
wafted on every wind, and pierced every hen.rt. The interest was deep and general. 
The classical man ran over the historv of that wonderful people; their beautiful lan- 
guage, and their rich and tasteful literature came rdl up fresh to his recollections, and 
lie was for repaying Greece the immeasura!)le debt of ages. The aliminiof all our 
literary institutions, without an exception, were for Greece. The female iieart, ready 
for generous sympathies, caught the infection, and assembled in favor of Greece. 
Societies were formed in every town and village to aid this brave people in their 
mightv struggle for freedom. The holv man of the altar, not given to enter into sec- 
uhu- affairs,' opened his sacred book, and finding countless texts on which to hang a 
discourse in favor of Christians in bondage, breathed an eloquence, the possession of 
wliich was almost unknown to himself, which opened the fountains of charity, and 
caused them to How like the rock of Horeb, with sweet and divine waters The gen- 
erous, as usual, gave for the suffiriug (in^eks most bountifuHy ; the yoimg child who 
had no definite idea of duty on the subject, hearing the preacher s;iy that the father of 
the little Greek bov thev had seen, died in the awful fight, and t at his mother fell by 
the assassin's dagier, brought his all to the contribution-box, and was happy when 
his shining silver was gone,— all gone,— fu- such a p\u-pose ; and the miser struggling 
between avarice and thesympnthy he felt for Greece, (and to him any generous sympa- 
thy was new,) let fall for the Greek the bit of gold he had held from every other char- 
ity, as with the grasp of de:ith. This is no high-wroiii:ht tale; thousands and tens 
of thousands can bear teslimonv to this statement, for ihev have wiinessed such 
scenes. Tins was not all,— ('hrisiian spirits clad with gospel panoply came forward 
with new-born zeal, and olfered their services as missionaries, agents, or any thing 
else that would benefit the cause. Youthful warrior.s, fed on the aliment of ancient 
patriotism, oflered tlieir services to gird on their sword, to ' sink or swim, lire or die' 
m the cause of freedom and the cross. All hearts yearned towards Greece, and 
everyone wished her well, if he did not express his wishes. Anncharsis was read 
with new pleasure* and Mitl'ord sought after with avidity, and even Gillie's Greece, 



LIFE OF DANIF.L WEBSTER. 



21 



with all its dulness, was in request from the libraries. However prudent the rulers of 
ilie nation iiiinht have felt in rejjard to comniittinj,' ihenistlves with the Greci revo- 
lution, the people had no fastidious impressions upon this subject. They expressi-d 
as they always will, as loni,' as they enjoy their present ble.ssiiip, their whole soul 
upon I'he occasion. The toii;,'ae of the people may be coiisiderK a.-* a 'ckartereU in- 
strument,' it speaks rigiit on, and is not often uuizzled aor tied. But even men m 
liigh places were influenced by public feelinir, and Mr. Monroe in his iiiessaiie to Con- 
gress, made mention of the strugiiles of Greece in favor of liberly. On this sugges- 
tion, .Mr. Webster brous^ht forward a resolution for making provision by law lor de- 
fraying the e.\penses incident to the appointment of an agent or commissioner to 
Greece, whenever the President should deem it expedient to make such an appoint- 
ment. 1 ,- 1 u u 1 

These generous sentiments were all seen, known, and felt by the speaker, as la 
proved by his short e.xordium. ,. . . , 

'I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, that, so far as my part in this discussion is concerneil, 
those e.Kpectations which the public e-xciteaient existing on the subjeci, and certain 
associations easilv suggested by it, have conspired to raise, may be di.-^appoirited. An 
occasion which calls the attention to a spot, so distinguished, so connected with in- 
teresting recollections, as Greece, may nauirally create something ot warmth and en- 
thusiasm. In a grave, political discussion, however, it is necessary that that teeling 
should be chastised. I shall endeavor properly to r.»Tess it, although it is impossi- 
ble that it should be altogether extinguished. We must, indeed, fly beyond the civil- 
ized world, we must pass the dominion of law, and the boundaries ot knowledge; 
we must, more especiallv, withdraw ourselves from this place, and the scenes and 
objects which here surround us, if we would separate ourselves, entirely, from the 
influence of all those memorials of herself which ancient Greece has transmitted for 
the admiration and the benefit of mankind. This free form of government, tins pop- 
ular assembly, the common council, held for the common good, where have we con- 
templated Us earliest models? This practice of free debate, and public discussion, 
the contest of mind with mind, and that popular eloquence, which, it it were now 
here, on a subject like this, would move the stones of the capitol,— whose was the 
the language in which all these were first exhibited'? Even the edifice m whicli we 
assemble, these proportioned columns, this ornamented architecture, all remind us 
that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of mankind, are greatly her debt- 
ors. But I have not introduced this motion in the vain hope of discharging any thing 
of this accumulated debt of centuries. I have not acted upon the expectation, that 
we, who have uiherited this obligation from our ancestors, should now attempt to pay 
it to those who may seem to have inherited, from Iheir ancestors, a right to receive pav- 
ment. Mv object is nearer and more immediate. 1 wish to take occasion of the struggle 
of an interesting and gallant people, in the cause of liberty and Christianity, to draw 
the attention of the House to the circumstances which have accompanied that strug- 
gle, and to the principles which appear to 'lave governed the conduct of the great States 
of Europe in regard to it ; and to the efF ets and consequences of these principles upon 
the independence of nations, and especitdly upon the institutions ot tree Governments. 
What I have to say of Greece, therefore, concerns the modern, not the ancient ; the 
living and not the dead. It regards her, not as she exists in history, triumphant over 
time, and tyranny, and ignorance; but as she now is, contending against fearful odds, 
for being, and fur the common privilege of human nature.' 

He spends be! little lime on these things, however congenial and lovely they may- 
be to him. He sto;.- imt to view the groves of the academy, the fountains ot inspi- 
ration, nor the mouiitans where rang the songs of the never-dying Muse. Neither 
the wisdom of Socraies nor the justice of the Areopagus, nor everi the eloquence of 
Pericles, or Demoi-iheiies, detain him for a moment. He weighs his own country m 
the balance of poi.t'.al justice, and con.siders what she ought to do in the cause ot 
freedom and of man. He approves of her peaceful policy, and at the sanie tune ot 
her huJependeni I' in speaking her mind upon all questions having any bearing on the 
great principles on wliitdi her government is founded. ' We are placed,' saiil he, 'by 
our good fortune, and the wisdom and valor of our ancestors, in a condition in which 
we can act no obscure part; be it for honor, be it for dishonor, whatever we do, is 
not likely to escape the observation of the world.' The speaker l)oldly declares the 
nature of our Government and delineates her peculiar features, and states opeidy that 
she can take but one side in such a contest, without abandoning, whicli she is rml 
likely to do, her fundamental principles. He then brings up the Holy Alliance, and 
shows bevond a question, that the principles laid dt)wn by them, as tar as they were 
developed, were not favorable to the rights of man. They still held to the divme righta 
of kings, and all the alleviation to be expected by the people musi be conside-red gifts 
from them, not the rightful claims of their subjects. ' \Vhile the teachers of Laybacli 



22 LIF£ OP DANIEL WEBSTER. 

give the rule, there will be no law but the law of the strongest.' This law was pro- 
mulgated to the world in a circular, dated 1821. He inquires whr.t interest we have 
in resisting the doctrines of the Holy Alliance. 

' It may now be required of me to shov\' what interest we have, in resisting this new 
system. What is it to vs, it may be as.ked, upon what principles, oi' what pretences, 
the European governments assert a right of interfering in the atfairs of iluir neigh- 
bors? Tiie thunder, it may he sai I, rolls at a distance. The wide Ailantic is between 
us and danger; and, however others may sutler, we shall remain safe. 

' I think it a sutficient answer to this, to say, that we are one of the nations ; that 
we have an interest, therefore, in the preservation of that sy.'item of national law and 
national intercourse, which has heretofore subsisted, so beneficially for all. Our 
sysltin of government, it should also he remtnibered, is, throughout, founded on princi- 
ples utterly hostile to the new code ; and, if we remain undisiurbed by iis operation, we 
fc.'iiill ov.'e our security, either to our situation or our spirit. The enterprising rliaracter 
of the age, our own active commercial spirit, the great increase which has taken place 
i:\ the intercourse between eivili'/.ed and commercial States, have necessarily connected^ 
us with the nations of the eartii, and given us a high concern in the_ preservation of 
those s;iliiiary principles upon which thai intercourse is founded. We have as clear 
an interest in international law, as individuals have in the laws of society. 

' Rut, apart from the soundness of the policy, on the ground of direct interest, we 
liave, sir, a duty, connected with this subject, which I trust we are willing to perform. 
What do we not owe lo the cause of civil and religious liberty ? to the principle o£ 
1 fvvful resistance? to the principle that society has a right to pnrtake in its own gqv- 
einment? As the it-ading repubhc of (he wcirld, living and breaihing in these prin- 
ciples, and advanced, by their operation, with unequalled rapidity in our career, shall 
we give oiu- consent to bring them into disrepute and disgrace ? It is neither osten- 
tation nor boasting to say, that there lie before this country, in immediate prospect, a 
great e.xt^nt and height of power. We are borne along towards this without efibrt, 
aiifl no! always even with a full knowledge of the rapidity of our own motion. Cir- 
ci:iiisTnnres which never combined before, have co-operated in our favor, and a 
mighty current is setting us fcirward, which we could not resist, even if we would, 
and which, while we would stop to make an observation, and take the sun, has set 
us, at the end of the operation, far in advance of the place where we connnenced it. 
Does it not become us, then, is it not a duty imposed on us, to give our weight to the 
side of liberty and justice — to let mankind know that we are not tired of our own in- 
stitutions — and to protest against the asserted power .of altering, at pleasure, the law 
of the civilized world ? 

'But, whatever we do, in this respect, it becomes us to do upon clear and consistent 
principles. There is an important topic in the Message, to which 1 have yet hardly 
alluded. I mean the rumored combination of the European continental sovereigns, 
against the new established tree State? of South America. Whatever position this 
("Government mav take on that subject, I trust it will be one which can be defended 
on known and acknowledaed groimds of riglit. The near approach, or the reu'Ote 
distance (jf danger, may atiect policy, but cannot change princii)le. The same reason 
that would auiliorize us to protest against unwarrantable combinations to interiere 
between Spain and her former colonics, would authorir.e us equnlly lo protest, if the 
same combination were directed against the smnllest State in Europe, although our 
duly to ourselves, our policy, and wisdom, might indicate very diflcTent courses, as 
tit to he pursued be us in the two cases. We shall not, I trust, act upon the nniion 
"jf di^'iding the world v.ith tlie Holy .Alliance, and complain of nothing done by them 
in their hemisidiere, if tliev will no't interfere with oers. .\t least this would not be 
such n course of policy as ( could recommend or support. We have not oflt'iiilt d, 
and, I hope, wedo not inienfl to oflend, in regard to South America, against any prin- 
ciple of national independence or of public law. We have done nothing, we shall 
do nothing, that we need to hush up or to comproiuise. by forbearing to ('.xpress our 
sympathy for the cau«e of the fincks, or our opinion of the cour.se which other 
fjoverrinients have adopted in regard to iheni.' 

The speaker gives a conrlensed account of the state of Greece, as she then was m 
the early part .if the late struggle. The description is forcibly drawn, iiot colored bv 
the imai-'inaiiim, or spread out into rhetorical bi-aiities for display. It is truth, such 
as is w(!|l uiiih 1 sfcioil by nil men who think, and such as is or will be felt by all nations 
who regard iheir ouii ritrhls. 

' 1 shall not detain the < 'omniitfee. Sir, by laying before it any statistical, geogra- 
phical, or commercial acenuni of Greece. I have no knowledge on these subjects, 
which is not common lo all. It is universally admitted, that, within the la.si thirty 
or forty years, the condition of Greece has been greatly improved. Her marine is at 
jjreseiit respectable, contahihig the best sailors ui the Mediterranean, bi tier even, in 



LIFE Uf DAMEL WEBSTER. 23 

that sea, than our own, as more accustomed to the Ions quarantines, and otner regu- 
lations which prevail in its ports. The number of her seamen has been estimated as 
liijih as .'lO.ono. but I suppose that estimate must be much too lari,'e. They have pro- 
bably 150,000 tons of shippin,^. It is not easy to state an accurate account of Grecian 
population. The Turkisii Government does not trouble itself with any of the calcu- 
lations o( political economy, and there has never been such a thing as an accurate 
census, probably, in any part of tiie Turkish empire. In the absence of all official 
information, private opinions widely difler. By the tabks which have been commu- 
nicated, it would seem that there are 2,400,000 GreeliS in Greece Proper and the 
islands; an amount, as I am inclined to think, somewhat overrated. There are, 
probably, in the whole of European Turkey, 5,000,000 Greeks, and 2,000,00'J more in 
the Asiatic dominions of that power. The moral and intellectual progress of this 
numerous nopulation, under the horrible oppression which crushes it, has been such 
as may well excite regard. Slaves, under barbarous masters, the Greeks have still 
aspired after the blessings of knowledge and civilization. Before the breaking out of 
the present revolution, they had established schools, and colleges, and libraries, and 
the press. Wherever, as in Scio, owing to particular circumstances, the weight of 
oppression was mitigated, the natural vivacity of the Greeks, and their aptitude for 
the art.s, were discovered. Though certainly not on an equality with the civilized and 
Cnristian Slates of Europe,— and how is it possible under such oppression as iliey 
endured that they should be ? they yet furni.-^hcd a striking contrast with their Tartar 
masters. It has been well said, that it is not easy to form a just conception of the 
nature of the despotism exercised over them. Conquest and subjugation, as known 
among Europ-an States, are inadequate modes of expression by which to denote the 
(lomi:uon of the Turks. A conquest, in the civilized world, is generally no more than 
an acquisition of a new dominion to the conquering couniry. It does not imply a 
never-ending bondage iniposi.d upon the conquered, a perpetual mark, and opprobrious 
distinction between them and their masters; a bitter and unending persecution i>l' 
their religion ; nn habitual violation of their rights of person and property, and the 
unrestrained indulgence towards them, of every passion which belongs to the char- 
acter of a barbarous soldiery. Yet such is the stale of Greece. The Ottoman power 
over them, obtained originally by the sword, is constantly preserved by tU.'? same 
means. Wherever it exists, it is a mere military power. The religious and civil i-odo 
of the State, b'.-in" botii fixed in the Alcoran, and ecjually the object of an ignonmi 
and furious faith, have been found i-qually incapable of change. "The Turk," it has 
been snid, "lias b<en enccnnpcd in Europe for four centuries." He has hardly any 
more participation in European manners, knowledge, and arts, than when he cros.std 
the Bo'pliorus. But this is not the worst of it. The power of the empire is fallen 
into anarchy, and as the principle which belongs to the head belongs also to the parts, 
there are as many despots as there are pachas, beys, and visiers. Wars are aluio.'^t 
perpetual between the sultan and some rebellious governor of a province ; and in t!ic 
conflict of these despotisms, the people are necessarily ground between the upper and 
t!ie nether millstone. In short, the Christian subjects of the Sublime Porte feel daily 
all the miseries which flow from despotism, from annrehy, from slavery, and from 
religious persecution. It any thing yet remains to heighten such a picture, let it be 
added, that every ofRce in the Government is not only actually, but professedly vena! ; 
—the pachalics, the visierites, the cadiships, and whatsoever other denomination niay 
denote the dcpo.sitarr of power. In the whole world, sir, there is no such oppression 
/cU, as by the Christian Greeks. In various parts of India, to be sure, the govern- 
ment is bad enough; but then it is the government of barbarians over barbarians, 
and the fncllmr of oppression is, of course, not so keen. There the oppressed are 
perhaps not better than their oporessors ; but in the case of Greece, there are millions 
of Christian men, not without knowledge, not without refinenient, not without a 
strong thirst for all the pleasures of civili/ed life, trampled into the very earth, 
century after c ntury, by a pillaging, savage, relentless soldiery. Sir, the case is 
unique. There exists, and has existed, nothing hke it. The world has no such misery 
to show ; there is no case in which Christian communities can be called upon, with 
such emphasis of appeal.' 

Whoever reads the speech carefully, will find that it contains a full avowal of Mr. 
Webster's opinions on our duties as a great republic, in all those important questions 
which are now agitating the world. His leading maxims arc.— Watch all the move- 
ments of nations; examine their conduct with impartudity and justice ; speak of them 
with candor, but with freedom, and prepare to act with magnanimity and good 
faith. 

From the halls of Congress, Mr. Webster passes with ease and dignity to any 
place or cause, when man is to be roused, enlightened, or directed and pleased. Aa 
our country increases in age and population, every circumstance of our history be- 



24 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

comes more a matter of importance to us, and will be more regarded as we journey 
onward in the career of national distinction. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was, from the day it was fousht, a fond theme for our 
people to dwell upon. It was the first fair test of national bravery in the revolution- 
ary contest; the first regular battle in which Britons and the sons of Britons met. 
It was strongly marked with true national characteristics, and was the most distin- 
guished of our battles. A half century was now closing on the nation since that 
memorable period. The day could not pass unnoticed by those who valued their 
birth- rights. The people of New England had, a short time before, formed a society, 
10 be called Tiie Bunker Hill Associatio?}, 'for the purpose of rearing some honora- 
ble and durable monument to the memory of the early friends of American Indepen- 
dence.' The close of the fiftieth year was fixed upon to lay the corner stone of this 
fiiomiment. Mr. Webster was selected as the orator on this occasion by the direc- 
tors of the Association ; in fact, it was not their selection alone, for the eyes of the 
whole people were turned upon him as the man who was to speak to them of by-gone 
times, long before the directors had met to name him. Great preparations were made 
for the pui^pose of commemorating the event, and of beginning the monument, and 
tha whole community, far and wide, were invited to attend. The day previous, the 
metropolis of New England was crowded to overflowing. The morning sun of the 
17th of .Tune, 1S25, rose as lovely as on the day of his birth. The survivors of the bat- 
tle of the 17th of June^ 1775, were invited by the Legislature of Massachusetts to at- 
tend the ceremonies at the expense of the Commonwealth. About fifty of them 
were found among the living, able to come ; these, with other revolutionary heroes, 
made part of the wonders of the day. The days of their deeds and their march- 
iugs had passed; and thev were borne to the field in open carriages, as at an 
oviition in triumphal cars. 'These cars were driven not by professional whips, but 
by younc gentlemen who volunteered their services for that honor. The etlect was_ 
scenic. These hoary-headed warriors seemed glorified spectres from some field ot 
ijattle,'over which flowers had grown, and harvests had been reaped, until the memory 
of blood had been forgotten, and who had come up to say, ' We have been sufficiently 
avenged ; let harmony and peace prevail among men.' 

One mass of people filled the streets in regular procession for nearly two miles in 
extent. As they passed, the houses were crowded with spectators. Everv resting- 
place, window, and battlement, were fiill of youth and beauty, looking on ; delighted 
infancy inquired what it all meant; and the lack-lustre eve of age was lighted up with 
new fires for that hour's gaze. In this procession, which was made up ot the valua- 
ble portion of the land,-^the virtuous, the conspicuous, and the renowned, was La- 
Favette, then the nation's guest ; he, too, had come to join in the patriotic commem- 
oration,— in the jubilee of liberty. The corner stone now laid, the people being seated 
in the amphitheatre which nature had prepared for them, and to wliich art had on y 
added a fe« benches; after a slight bustling for seats, all was still; when a venerable 
form arose* to implore the blessings of Heaven on the day, the deed, and the orator. 
He, too, seemed to have come from the dead. He was a being of another age, at 
least He had the snow of nearly fourscore winters upon his head ; his voice, though 
changed, was not broken by age; he was heard and accompanied by thousands in 
his devotions There is something indescribablv venerable in a holy man, who has 
long officiated at the altar of the Most High. There was a divine g ow m that age- 
stricken face, that showed that the moral as well as national grandeur of the scene 
was in his mind ; and as he closed his prayer with all honor and plory to God, his 
countenance unequivocally .'^poke the language of Simeon ol old, ^ Now lettesi thou 
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eves have seen thy salvation.' 

The speaker next was seen ; all eyes were turned upon him, and breathless atten- 
tion was the signal for his first accent. History has no parallel for this scene 

In the open air, exposed to sun and winds, stood an orator, ripe with the thoughts 
of manhood, before all the impressions and the glow of early days had gone; myri- 
ads of listeners were around lum ; heroes were clustering near him, among them the 
representatives of other hemispheres; holy men, who were just entering eternity, 
were ready to implore a blessing, and depart ; the bones of friends and enemies vvere 
shaking in their graves beneath the feet of new and old generations, and passing time 
was announcing that half a century had elapsed since the roar of i)attle had broke 
over the sacred ground. The corni-r stone of a time-defying monument was then 
resting at his feet, and a hundred thousand bosoms in his sight were swelling and 
heaving with patriotism and republican pride. How subUme the scene ! What a 
moment for ''thouehfi! Hint brratlie and iruids that burti!" 
All were satisfied,— all delighted. Yet there was nothing but Rood flense running 

• The R*v. Jcseph Ttiaxter, of EJgarton. 



LIFE OF DANIEL \V£BST£K- 25 

llirqugh all he said ; no arlificial pauses were made to elicit the plaudits of a larger 
audience than any orator in this country ever before addressed. He had studied no 
graceful gestures for the occasion. His voice was clear and powerful, and heard far 
heyond the usual compass of the human voice. He spoke as he felt, with deliberate 
energy of thought and word. ,His whole soul was in that day's glory. Every topic 
that lie touched was directly applicable to his subject ; there were none of tlie wan- 
derings of genius in his speech ; all was compact, intense and connected. The im- 
portance of the institution, its great obji-cts, and iis harmony, with all the feelings of 
patriotism were dwelt upon. The principles of the Revolution received new interest 
from his eloquence. The mighty dead of the Revolution were eulogised, and the sur- 
vivors addressed with aiii'Ciioii and reverence. They had never anticipated such a 
day. Lafavcttc was full of the 'grand spectacle,' and declared, that he had never 
before beheld a concourse so intelligent and so happy. Such impressions may slum- 
ber, but can never die. They will be called up by memory, and transmitted with 
fresh laurels to remotest lime. 

Mr. \Vei>ster had not often made his appearance in Faneuil Hall on those pcca- 
.sions whicli call forth the unpremeditated speeches of those who come to animate 
the voters before the poles are opened. He had not tried or wasted his strength on 
these useful, but ephemeral eflorts in the cause of every ordinary election. He admi- 
red the old cradle of liberty, but it was the place for young men to try their oratorical 
powers, and he had pas.'ied the period of all such struggles; yet, previous to the elec- 
tion of April, lH-2.'5, in that state, when no small degree of confusion seemed to be found 
in the ranks of his friends, he was induced to come forward to say a few words in 
favor of union. He was awksvardly situated ; some of his friends were very urgent 
for him to appear, as he might do much good in bringing about h.irmony. He re- 
ceived noi!^s from some other friends, pressing him to be there without fail; from 
others, again, urging him to stay at home. One, couched in Calphurnia's words, ' Go 
not forth to-dayV and this from one, too, who loved him well, and one who had as 
manv fears for'the loss of his popularity as the fond wife hail for Gfesar's life ; never- 
theless, his popularity was not in quite so much jeopardy as the great Roman's life. 
He did go forth, and made a speech, which, if it did not unite all parties, went no 
small way to accomplish it ; at all events, it increased the public confidence in his 
political course. Tliese su iden, occasional speeches, called out by unforeseen circum- 
stances, show a man's common course of thinking, and his fitness for that debate, 
which a statesman is often forced into without much preparation. 'I'he topics he 
touched upon were well chosen, and as one of those little gems of eloquence, the 
speech is given :— . - 

' Mr. Webster said, he was quite unaccustomed to appear in that place; having, on 
no occasion, addressed his fellow citizens there, either to recommend or to opjiose 
the support of any candidates for public office. He had long been of opinion, that to 
preserve the distinction, and the hostility of political parties, was not consistent with 
the highest degree of public good. At the same time he did not find fault with the 
conduct, nor question the motives, of those who thought otherwise. But, eniertain- 
ing this opinion, he had abstained from attending on those occasions, in which the 
merits of public men, and of candidates for office, were discussed, necessarily, with 
more or less reference to party attachment, and party organization. 

'The present was a ditlerent occasion. The sentiment which had called this nieet- 
ing together, was a sentiment of union and conciliation ; a sentiment so congenial to 
his own feelings, and to his opinion of the public interest, that he could not resist the 
inclinatioji to be present, and lo express his entire and hearty approbation. 

'He should forbear, Mr. W. said, from all remarks upon the particular names 
which had been recommended by the committee. They had been selected, he must 
presume, fairly, and with due consideration, by those who were appointed for that pur- 
pose. In casi;s of this sort every one cannot expect to find every thing precisely as 
he might wish it ; but those who concurred in the general sentiment would naturally 
allow that sentiment to prevail, as far as possible, over particular objections. 

'On the general question he would make a few remarks, begging the indulgence of 
the meeting, if he should say any thing which might with more propriety proceed from 
others. 

'He hardly conceived how well-disposed and intelligent minds coidd difTer, as to 
the question, whether uarty contest, and party strife, organized, systematic, and con- 
tinued, were of tliemselyes desirable ingredients in the coinposition of society. Differ- 
ence of opinion, on political subjects, honorable competition, and emulous riralry, 
may, indeed be useful. Hut these are very diderent things from organized and sys- 
tematic party combinations. He admitted, even, that party associations were some- 
times unavoidable, and perhaps necessary, to the accomplishment of other ends and 
purposes. But this did not prove that, of themselvea, they were good ; or that they 

o 



25 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Should be continued and preserved for their own sake, when there had ceased to be 

'"^iSS S:;Shli'^^Posed, that whe,l^pohJ.alparty^.U^ 

Pf^ i,;rrnow^n'r-e socte y Nevv questions and new objects arise, having no 

about, '^e '^V"='" ^" -^P™^, in go doing. Associations formed to support prinoplcs, 
may be calfed ;^.r4 • burif they have^rio bond of union but adherence to particular 

"'TSe5r.n h'opnuon, were at present grateful to all parties, for whatever of 

a raid there ^^re ; but e^erthc ess^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^._^ ^ ^^ ^^^. ^.^^^,^. 

''f ^'"h! ^la^^s fs^t e Ao efor^^ H'e storm has subsided ; but thet^n- 

dPuct of Ife elemeiits was o repose. Monopolies of all sorts were getting out of 
ftsluon?thev were Sding to l.be.al ideas, and to the obvious justice and expediency 

''^'A,'!' ndinmislruion of the general government, which had been, in general, highly 
sattficto 4 f.hf country, haSTi^w cfosed. He was not a ware that .t could with pro- 
f.vipfv bewail that that administration had been either supported, or oj.posed by am 

fife mo«t liberal and conciliatory principles had been avoxyed. It could not be doubted. 

l,vl^ ncum. -^^^ vote of thanks, to express his own opinion of his hbeiali v, 

by ujncuiiin„in lie u^u<'i r ,; j^nj he wou d take this occasion also, to add, 

in;TXHn"n\oi be o a^^^^ - - m su"h a ease, that he though, nothing more un- 
it hib opinion f""'^"y' J* ,f „ o„,t,d i,is present situation to any unworthy com- 
lonnded than that '' ^t ^f"''','"^'; ° He owed it to his talent, to his prominent stand- 
pronuse or ^rrangemHit vv lateve^^^^ ot" m?b He s rvice not now a short one, and to the 

lll^l^'miSiu w 1 ht^a^^ltKSlu^^ 

'l\en a 1,M Webster proceeded to say, had been made Iron, the ch^n. very k nd 
and ua tm as to the mann r in which he had discharged thedulus which 1 e."^^''^J » 
h s cm stma nts"in the House .;f Representatives He wish.d to say, that 't 1> 'd 
v^.f able to render any, the humblest services, cither to the pub ic or his constituents 
'rthat Sace, U waU wmg wholly to the liberal manner in which h.s efiorts there had 

^^' Having'iliuded to the Inaugural Address he did not mean, "V'/'^^-.f ^'^'-'fi/J^Xr 
to detract from its merits, when he now said, that in Ins opinion, il ei be ol "' ' '" "cr 
to oeiraci iroiii ''° ' '^', ,'• ■ flection he idso would have adonled a liberal course 
Tttl te had no rion o bS t^h^^^^^ be sentiments of eitlier of those gentle- 

ency or necessity, would have controlled tbeir mchnations. 

'1 forbear said Mr. W. from pursuing thc-se remarks tar her. I lepeat, tbat 1 do 
not cnpiain of those who have hitherto thought, or whostill think tbat P^r'vorg^^n- 
?/ation 3 necessary to the public good. I do not question their motivi^ ; and 1 m '.^h 
tX tofcrant even to those who thu.k that toleration ought not be induljied. 



I-IKI:; Of" DANIEL WLRSTEK. 27 

' II is said, sir, i!iat rrospcrity sometimes hardi^ns ihe heart. Perhaps, also, it may 
sometimes have a contrary efiect, arid elevate ami liberalize th(! fceliiigs. If this ean 
ever be the result of siich a cause, there is ccrtainK' in the present condition of the 
country enoutrh to inspire the most grateful and the kindest feelinfts. We have a 
common stock both of happiness and of disfin< tion, of whieli \vv an^ all enliik'd as 
citizens of the country to partake. We niay all rtidiee in the gi nerai [-.ro.speriiy, in the 
peace and security wiiich we enjoy, and in the brilliant success which has thus far at- 
tended our republican institutions. These are ciicumstanees which may well e.xcitein 
ns all a noble pride. Our civil and political institutions, while tluy answer for us all 
the great ends designed by them, furnish at the same time ari exam]ile to others, and 
difl'use blessings beyond our own limits. In whatever part of the f,'hibe men an/ found 
contending for political liberty, they look to the United States with a feeling of broth- 
erhood, and put forth a claim of kindred. The South American States, espiciuhy, ex- 
hibit a most interesting spectacle. Let the great nun \Nho formed our constitutions 
of government, who still survive, and lei the childien of those who have gone to 
their graves console themselves wiih the rellection, that whether they have risen or 
fallen in the little contests of party, they have not only established ilu^ liberty and 
happiness of their own riative laud, but have confericd blessings beyond their own 
country, and beyond their own thoughts, on millions of men, and on successions of 
generations. Undej- the influence of tht se institutions, received ami adopted in princi- 
ple, from our example, the whole southern coniineiit has shaken ofi' its coionird sub- 
jeciion. A new world, filled with fresh and interesting nations, has risen to our sight. 
America seems again discovered : not to gtograjihy, but to comnicrce, to social inler- 
couise, to intelligence, to civilization, and to liberty. Fii'iy year.s ago, some of those who 
now hear me, and the fathers of many others, listened in this place, to tho.se mighty 
masters, Otis and Adams. When they then uttered the spirit-stirring sound? of In- 
dependence and Liberty, there w;;s not a foot of land on the coniineut inhabited by 
• iviiized nian, that did not acknowledge the dominion of European power. 1'iianK. 
God, al this moment, from us to the south pole, and from sea to sea, there is hardly a 
foot that does. 

'And, sir, when these States, thus newly disenthralled and emancipated, assume 
the tone and bear the port of independence, what language, and what ideas do we find 
associated with their new acquired liberty'.' They speak, sir, of Constitulions, of 
Declarations of Rights, of theLilierty of the Press, of a Congress, and of Repi-esent- 
atiye Government. Where, sir. did they learn these? And when they have applied to 
their great leader, and the founder of their States, the language of praise andcomirten- 
daiion, till they have exhausted it,— whi-n unsatistied gratitude can express itself no oth- 
ervv'ise, do they not call him their Washington 7 Sir, the Spirit of Continental Inde- 
pendence, the Genius of /\merican Liberty, which in earlier times tried her infant voice 
in the hall.- and on the hills of New-England, utieis ii now, with power that seems to 
wake the dead, on the plains of Mexico and along the sides of the .Andes. 

" Her pjith, where'er the Goddess roves, 

Glnry pursues, and errnerous sliaiiie, 

The unconquerable ininj, and Freedom's holy flame." 

'There is ore other point of view, sir, in regard to which I ^\i!l say a few words, 
though, perhaps, at some hazard of misinterpretation. 

' In the wonderful spirit of improvement and ( riteriirise which animates the country, 
we may be assured that each quarter will naturally exert its power in favor of objects 
in which it is interested. This is natural and i.iiavoidnble. Each portion, therefore, 
will use its best means. If the West feels a strong interest in clearing the na vitiation 
of its mighty streams, and opening roads through its vast forests ; if the South is 
to.ually zealous to push the production and iiuament the price s of its great stapli s, it is 
reastinable to expect, that thes'i objects will be pursued by tl;e best means w hicii olTer. 
And it may, therefore, well deser;-e consideration, whether theconnuercial, and navi- 
gating, andniamifacturing interests of the North do not call on us lo aid and support 
them, by united counsels and united efibrts. But I abstain from enlarging on this toiiic. 
Let me rather say, sir, that in regard to the wdiole country, a new era has ari.sen. In 
a tiirie of peace, the proper pursuits of peace engage society with a degree of enter- 
prise, and an inien.senessof application heretofore unknown. New objects are open- 
ing, iind new resourt es developed on every side. We tread on a broader theatre ; and 
if instead of acting our parts, according to the novelty and importance of the scene, 
we waste oin- strength in tmitual crimination and recrimination about the past, we 
shall resemble those navigators, who having escaped from .some crooked and narrow 
river to I he sea, now that the whole ocean is before them, should, nevertheless, occupy 
themselves with ihediHcrcntes which happened as they passed along among the rocks 



28 LIFE OF DAMEl, WEBSTER. 

and the shallows, instead of opening their eyes to the wide horizon aroimd them, 
spreading their sail to the propitious gale that woos it, raising theirquadrant to the sun, 
and grasping the helm, witii the conscious hand of a master. 

The inhabitants of Boston, not satisfied with the Inljors Mr. Webster had already 
performed fur the instruction and gvatiticntion of the public, claimed his services again, 
as a eulogist on Adams and Jefferson, after their c.xiraoidinary exit from this life, on 
the 4th of July, 1826. It was not strange that old men should die. Nature n quired 
the repose of the grave after such active and eventful lives. The country was daily 
expecting to hear that they were sinking into the tomb. They had filltd up a great 
measureof duty ; but that it should be so decreed that both should be called to another 
world on the nation's political birih-day — called as it were by the same angel of death 
on the sameerrand to this world, was most wonderful. At this event the nation felt 
but one sentiment— of respect and affection ; and if the expression may be allowed, 
but one heart-swelling emotion of wonder, admiration, and satisfaction, that they had 
gone together from this world of tare and an.xieiy. Orations, sermons, elegies and 
speeches, were made from one end of the country to the other. Party spirit was sacri- 
ficed, at once, at the shrine of patriotism ; and men of political creeds vied wiih each 
other in commemorating the talents, services, and virtues of each. The failings of 
both were forgotten, and their deeds were brought forward side by side, and comment- 
ed upon, as they will be when a century has passed over us as a nation. There was 
none of that weakness in this, which is often discovered in epitaphs or obituaries from 
admiring friendship or relenting enmity. The iiead, as well as the heart, was con- 
cerned in the feelings and proceedings of the people. Boston is never behind lier sis- 
ter cities in celebrating any joyous event, or in commemorating any thing national, or 
glorious, or in paying honors to the illustrious dead. The mayor and aldermen appoint- 
ed the second day of August following the fourth of July 1S2B, to notice the death of 
these distinguished statesmen. This day was fixed upon because on it, following the 
fourth of July, 1776, the members of the Continental Congress, who, from absence or 
other causes had not put their names to the immortal instrument, the Declaration of 
Independence, now assembled to put the finishing hand to it. On this occasion, the 
good people of Boston were more than usually enthusiastic, if that were possible, and 
felt a determination to show their respect for the illustrious dead, vvith no ordinary 
demonstrations of funeral ensignia. Faneuil Hall was shrouded in mourning— the 
business of the city was suspended ; the colors of the shipping were hoisted half mast, 
and the bells tolled a solemn peal at appointed hours of the day. Several hours be- 
fore the ceremonies commenced, the immense galleries of the old cradle of liberty were 
crowded with ladies, waiting for the orator to appear. The procession was formed at 
the State House, nearly half a mile from the Hall ; and consisted of a very great num- 
ber of the most respectable inhabitants of the metropolis; not more than a tenth of 
w!iom C('iuld expect to find accommodation for hearing the oration. As the procession 
passed, the windows and balconies were crowded vvith citizens with solemn faces, 
anxious to witness any portion of the honors the people were paying to the mighty 
dead. The deceased patriots had lived to 

'Read their liistory in a nntion's eye.s ;' 

and now that nation, in this, and in other cities was putting the seal upon their fame 
bv those funeral rites which are performed by the people only for those they loved. 
The body of Trajan was not so much the object of solemn curiosity as was Pliny's 
eulogy, in the Seiiate, upon the virtue.s of the great Roman. In joy and in grief, 
th(>re often is a feeling so intense that the mind eannoi find repose until liie heart has 
discharged itself in words. Every one was so tlesirous of getting a lot)k at tiie 
speaker, that the populace crowded upon one another to the great diiiigerol life, or 
iimbs Men, who were accustoined to see the orator almost daily, were just as eager 
to catch a glimpse of him as if they now beheld him fur the first lime. Men love to 
take their ey?s from wandering over the widi' expanse that heaven has suffered us to 
view, iind direct them to one object, if such an object is capable of filling the mjnd. 
As the crowd thickened and the dilliculties of a clear view increased, the ixertions 
to see became more fierce. Many pariouk of the enthusiasm, who never could give a 
reason for it. The wtnld has not miich changed from its earliest apes. What Rome 
ieit when her great ruler died, other cities feel now at the exit of their great men ; and 
»he same an.xiety to see and hear those who praise them still continues; 

' I have seen 
TiiP ilumb nioii tlirong to sre him, iuiii tlie blind 
Ti) hear liiiii speak ; tln' niiilKJiis Ilimg tlicir Klovi^r., 
I-adies and maids tlieir scjrls uiid li.indkercliicfs, 
Upon him as tic passed : The nobles bended, 



MFE OF DANIEL \VEBST£R. 29 

As to Jove's sUitue ; and the commons inailo 

A shower and UuniJer, with their caps and shouts : 

I never saw the hke." Coriolanits. 

The subject was one abounding in incident and full of interest. It stretched 
through a long measure of history, and was connected with the minute and the 
general affairs of the Republic. To do justice to the lives of both and to their country, 
during this period, would require numerous volumes of biography and history. The 
tasli was to condense this mass of matter to the compass of a two hours' speech. 
The bioi^raphical sketches of the two great patriots are graphic, spirited, succinct, and 
stamped with the strictest adherence to plain matter of fact. 

Manv of the orators and statesmen of the present day in our country affect to think 
but little of classical learning, and, relying on natural talents, most egregiou.sly under- 
rate the int!uenctsand the value of letters. This, however, is owing to inoirignoranw 
of the treasures of antiquity. It is natural, for who can estimate proiierly what he 
Joes not, in the slightest degree, understand ? Mr. Webster has given us his ovvu 
view of the subject in this oration ; and this is one on which he should be heard, in 
particular, for his has been a business rather then a classical life; and he can justly 
appreciate the effect of any portion of classical literature. 

' Literature sometimes, and pretensions to it much oftener, disgusts, by appearing to 
hang loosely on the character, like something foreign or extraneous, nut a part, hut, 
an ill-adjusted appendage; or by seeming to overload and weigh it down, by its 
unsightly bulk, like the productions of had taste in architecture, where there is massy 
and cumbrous ornament, without strength or solidity of column. This has exposed 
learning; and especially classical learaing, to reproach. Men have seen that it might 
e.xist, whhout mental superiority, without vigor, without good taste, and wiihoui 
utility. But, in such cases, classical learning has only not inspired natural talent ;_ 
or, at most, it has but made original feebleness of intellect, and natural bluntness of 
perception, something more conspicuous. The question, after all, if it be a question, 
is, whether literature, ancient as well as modern, does not assist a good under- 
titanJiug, improve natural good taste, add polished armor to native strength, and 
render its possessor, not only more capable of deriving private haiipiness from con- 
templation and reflection, but more accomplished, also, for action, in the affairs of 
life, and especially for public action. Those whose memories we now honor, vyere 
iearnad men ; but their learning was kept in its proper place, and made subservient 
to the uses and objects of life. They were scholars, not common, nor sup-.-rrieial ; 
but their scholarship was so in keeping with their character, so blended and inwrought, 
that careless observers, or bad judges, not seeing an o.«tentatioii.s display of it. miiiht 
infer that it did not exist ; forgetung, or not knowing, that classical learning, in ni ;n 
who act in conspicuous public stations, perform duties which exercise the facidty of 
writing, or address popular, deliberative, or juiiicial bodies, is often felt, where it is 
little seen, and sometimes felt more effectually, hecause it is not seen at all." 

Among the gifts which 3Ir. Adams had from nature, and which were cultivated by 
close application to studies and duties was that of a strong voice and a most puwerful 
imagination, united to a retentive memory, which are among the jirincipal ingredients 
in making an orator. His eloquence was admired in his day, as full of strength, 
nature, fire, and classical learning. He came upon the question with all the energy 
of his feelings; he turned it to every light, and probed it to the very quick. He was 
well grounded in rhetoric, but made no display of his art ; he pounced upon his sub- 
ject vvith strength and spirit, regardless of the graces he might, or might not, exhihit 
111 his performance. Mr. Webster has given us the characteristics of Mr. Adams' 
eloquence. , , • . . 

' The eloquence of Mr. .Adams resembled his general character, and formed, indeed, 
a part of it. It was bold, manly, and energetic ; and such the crisis reciuired. When 
public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are 
at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable, in speech, farther than it is 
connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and ear- 
nestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not 
consist in speech. It cannot be brought f;om far. Labor and learning may toil for 
it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, 
but tliey cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the 
occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, liie pomp of declamation, all may 
aspire after it— they cannot reach it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the outbreaking 
of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, 
original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments, and 
studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their own hves, and 
•the fate of their wives, their cnildren, and (heir coiuitry, hang on tlie decision of the 

3'* 



30 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory 
contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence 
of higher qualities. Then, patriotism is eloquent; then, self-devotion is eloquent. 
The clear conception, outrunnin,^ the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm 
resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing 
every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his object— this, 
this IS eloquence ; or rather it is s6mething greater and higher than all eloquence, it is 
action, noble, sublime, godlike action.' , •, ■ • 

The declining years of Mr. Jefferson are faithfully and beautifullv drawn, exhibiUng 
the composure of wisdom and the serenity of moral courage. Tne old age of most 
men is querulous and feeble : they are distressed to think life has passed on so far, 
and that they have so short a time to finish up the business of it. Mr. Jefferson 
seemed to wait with patience, and was ready to obey the summons for his departure — 
watching the last rays of his setting sun as one wishing for rest after the toils and 
fatigues of the dav; that rest had come, and the orator had in charge his fame. 

'Both Mr. Adams and Mr. Jeiierson had the pleasure of knowing that the respect, 
which they so largely received, was not paid to their ofl'icial stations. They were 
not men made great by office ; but great men, on whom the country for its own benefit 
had conferred otfice. There was that in them, which office did not give, and which 
the relinquishment of office did not, and could not, take away. In their retirement, 
in the midst of their fellow-citizens, theinsflves private citizens, they enjoyed as high 
regard and esteem, as when filling the most important places of public trust. 

There remained to Mr. Jefferson vet one other work of patriotism and beneficence, 
the establishment of a university in his native State. To this object he devoted yeartj 
of incessant and anxious attention, and by the enlightened liberahty of the legislature 
of Virginia, and the co-operation of other able and zealous friends, he hved to see it 
accoirlolished. May all success attend this infant seminary ; and may those who enjoy 
its advantages, as often as their eyes shall rest on the neighboring height, recollect 
what they owe to their disinterested and indefatigable benefactor; and may letters 
honor hitu who thus labored in the cause of letters. , „. „ 

'Thus useful, and thus respected, passed the old age of Thomas Jeflerson. But 
time was on its ever-ceaselcss wing, and svas now bringing the last hour of this ilhis- 
trious man. He saw its approach, with undisturbed serenity. He counted the mo- 
ments, as they passed, and beheld that his last sands were falling. That day, too, 
was at hand, which ho had helped to make immortal. One wish, one hope--it it 
were not presumptuous— beat in his fainting breast. Could it be so— might it please 
God— he would desire— once more— to see the sun— once more to look abroad on the 
scene around him, on the great day of liberty. Heaven in its mercy, fulfilled that 
prayer. He saw that sun— he enjoyed its sacred light— he thanked God for his mer- 
cy, and bowed his aged head to tlie grave. " Fdix, non vitce tantum daritatc, scd 
etiaiii opportunitate mortis." ' ■ r i 

In lS-.il Mr. Webster was engaged in a cause of no small importance before the 
Hi°-h Court of Impeachment in Massachusetts. It was a trial which called up strong 
feelin'-s in the community, and attracted much attention throughout the Common- 
wealth : James Prescott, a Judge of Probate of Wills, &c. &c. for the county of Mid- 
dlese.K, in that Commonwealth, was charged by the House oi Representatives, acting 
as a "rand inquest under the Constitution, with misconduct and mal-administration 
in hiroffice, inasmuch as he had held Probate Courts at oth< r tunes than those 
authorized by law; and for demanding and taking illegal fei>.«, and acting as Coimsei, 
and for receiving fees in cases pending in his own Court before him as judge. Pres- 
cott had long been considered a man of talents and integrity, and a most excellent 
Judge of Probate: his decisions had been held in great respect. In some instances 
he had found the law silent, or vague and uncertain upon many points. No small 
art of his course had been founded upon ancient usages; and when new cases arose, 
,.e, as was customary in the preceding ages, legislated a little for himself. This was 
thought no harm. He had proceeded in this course for sixteen years, and no one com- 
plained except the lawyers, who lost counsel fees by it. The judge had a little tinge 
of avarice in his composition, and some share of obstinacy, but no one thought him 
dishonest, or capable of acting corruptly. In an evil hour, a vindictive neighbor, 
offended by some cause not arising in the Court of Probate, entered his complaint 
upon some State allegalions to the House of Representatives, on which the House 
thought it a duty to frame articles of impeachment, and therefore appointed managers 
to prosecute them to final judgment before the Senate, as the High Court of Impeach- 
ment These managers were six of the most learned and eloquent members of the 
House, who discharged their duty with great ability. Mr. Webster, Mr Blake, and 
Mr. Hoar, were of Counsel for the respondent. The defence was opened by the latter 
genileman, in a sdund and able argument, and dosed by Mr. Webster. If acting 



^ 



LIFB OF DANIEL WEBPTKR. HI 

out of the letter of the statute was wrone, the inline was ciilpahle ; but in liis Jcfeiiee 
it was argued that in the alicgcd cases, ine siatiitc was silent, anJ in no case haiJ he 
violated any clause of it ; and that he had used a fair discretion in holding coui ts other 
Than those fixed by law, and on occasions of emergency only. The practice was 
common in almost every county in the Common wealth ; hut this, it was contended 
by the managers, could not avail if proved, as a coninion error could not establish a 
right ; but it certainly went far to show that there was no corruption. The taking of 
fees for advice, it was urged in the defence was not corrupt, for that this advice given 
was always judicious, and saved expense of litit;aiion, and assisted cvecutors or ad- 
ministrators in the prompt discharge of their duties. The managers thought, that a 
evils had crept into this court, it was high time they were corrected, and this was a 
proper occasion to make the correction. Mr. Webster put forth liis great .strength in 
behalf of his client, and seldom was it more conspicuous. He felt tliat if his client 
had, in some instances acted imprudently, that he had not acted corruptly, and he 
breasted the arguments of the managers most strenuously. He went deeply into the 
origin of these courts for the probate of wills, and showed most clearly all the ancient 
usages in the ecclesiastical courts on which our probate courts were founded. The 
senate chainber was crowded, for a deep interest was e.xcited : the advocate was more 
than usually earnest; in fact, he showed most evidently a great an.xicly on the sub- 
ject. His arguments seemed to sweep along like the billows of the ocean ; his voice 
Decaine deep toned, and now and then almost terrific. He seemed to have a presage 
of theopinion of the majority of the judges, and he continued to strive with might and 
main to bring his client ott" safe. His speech, towards the close, became truly im- 
passioned and sublime. There was a deep feeling in his bursts of eloquence that aui- 
tnted even those long accustoioed to hear his fairest ettbrls ; th^^y saw his whole soul 
was in the cause, and the audience followed him without holding back a jot, — ihey 
crowdedcloser and closer to him as he advanced in his argument; and even envy 
owned that the struggle was gigantic. The close of the speech has C(jine to us in a 
tamer form than that in which it was delivered; but as we have it in print, it is one 
of his most impassioned specimens of forensic eloquence. The reader shall judge for 
himself. 

' I now beg leave to call the attention of the Court to one or two considerations of 
a general nature, and which api)ear to me to have an important hearing on the merits 
of this whole cause. The first is this, that from the day when the respondent was 
appointed Judge of Probate, down to the period at which these articles of impeach- 
ment close — from the year ISO,') to 1S'21 — there is not a single case, with thee.vception 
of that alleged by Ware, in which it is even pretended that any sccrenj was designed 
or attempted by the Respondent : there is not a single ease, in which he is even accu- 
sed of having wished to keep any thing out of sight, or to conceal any fact in his 
administration, any charge which he had made, or any fee which he had taken. The 
■evidence on which you are to judge him, is evidenjie furnished by himsijlf; and instead 
of being obliged to seek for testinionvin sources beyond the Respondent's control, it is 
his own avowed actions, his public administration, and the records of hisofiice, which 
the managers of the prosecution alone have been able to produce. .And yet he is 
charged with having actedwil/ully and corruplhj; as if it were possible tiiat a magis- 
trate, in a high and responsible station, with the eyes of the community upon him, 
should, for near twenty years, pursue a course of corrupt and wilful mal-adminisira- 
tion, of which every act and every instance was formally and publicly put on record 
by himself, and laid open in the face of the community. Is this agreeable to thelaws 
of human nature! Why, sir, if the Respondent has so long been pursuing a course 
of conscious, and wilful, and corrupt mal-administration, why do we discover none 
of the usual and natural traces of such a course — some attempt at concealment, some 
etfort at secrecy; and in all the numberless cases, in which he had opportunity and 
temptation, why is npt even a susisicion thrown out, that he has attempted to draw a 
veil of privacy over his alleged extortions ? — Is it in reason that you should be obliged 
to go to his own records for the proof of his pretended crimes? .And can you, with 
even the color of probability, appeal to a course of actions unsuspiciously performed 
in the face of Heaven, to support an accusation of ofiences, in their very nature pri- 
vate, concealed, and hidden ? 

'.Another consideration of a general nature to which I earnestly ask the attention 
of this Hon. Court, is this, that after all these accusation.s, which have been brought 
together against the Respondent, in all the.se articles of impeachinent, and with all 
the industry and zeal with which the matter of them has been furnished to the Hon. 
Managers, he is not accused nor was suspected of the crime most likely to bring an 
unjust judge to the bar of this Court. Show me the unjust judgment henas rendered, 
the illegal order he has given,. the corrupt decree he has uttered. th(> act of oppression 
he has committed. What, sir, a magistrate, charged with a long and deliberate pel- 



32 Liri: of danicl WEBaxER. 

severance in wilful and corrupt adniinistraiion, accused of extortion, thouglii cai able 
of a.cepting the miserable bribe of a few cents or a few dollars, for illegal and tincoii- 
sstituiioiial acts — and that, too, in an oiTiee, presenting every day the inost abiindaui. 
opportunities, and if the Respondent were of the character pretended, the irios-t irre- 
sistible temptation to acts of lucrative injustice; and yet, not one instance of a cor- 
rupt, illegal, or oppressive judgment ! I do ask the permission of this Hon. Court, 
and of every nunnber of it, to put this to hia own conscience. I will ask him, if he 
can now name a more, able and upright magistrate, as shown in all his proceedings 
and judgments, in all the ofliccs of probate m the biate? One whose records are 
more regularly and properly kepi, whose administration is more prompt, correct, and 
legal, — whose competency to the duties is niore complete, whose discharge of them 
is more punctual? I put this earnestly, sir, to the conscience of every member of 
this Hon. Court. I appeal more especially to my honorable friend, {Air. Fay,) in- 
trusted with a share of the management of this prosecution, and who has been for twen- 
ty years an inhabitant of the county of Middlesex. I will appeal to him, sir, and I will 
ask him, whether if he knew that this night his wife should be left husbandless, and his 
children fatherless, there is a magistrate in the State, in whose protection he had 
rather they should be left, than in that of the Respondent? Forgetting, for a mo- 
ment, that he is a prosecutor, and remembering only that he is a citizen of the saine 
county, a member of the same profession, with an acquaintance of twenty years stand- 
iiig, I Bsk hmi if he will say tliat he believes there is a county in the state, in which 
the office of Judge of Probate has been better administered for twenty years, than it 
has been in the county of Middlesex, by this Respondent. And yet, sir, you are asked 
to disgrace him. You are asked to fi.x on him the stigma of a corrupt and unjust 
judge, and C9ndcmn him to wear it through life. 

'Mr. President, the case is closed ! Tlie fate of the respondent is in your hands. 
Jt is for you now to say, whether, from the law and the '"acts as they have appeared 
before you, you will proceed to disgrace and disfranchise him. If your duty calls on 
you to convict him, convict him, and let justice be done I but I adjure you let it be a 
clear undoubted case. Let it be so for his sake, for you are robbing him of thai, for 
v.hich with all your high powers, you can yield him no compen.sation ; let it be so for 
jour own sakes, for llie responsibilitv of this day's judemeni is oik^ wiiich you must 
carry witli you through ycntr life. For myself, I am willing here to relii;quish the 
character of an advocate, and to express opinions by which I am willing io be bound, 
as a citizen of the community. And 1 say upon my honour and conscience, that I 
see nothow, with the law and constitution for your guides, you can pronounce the 
respondent guilty. 1 declare, that I have seen no case of wilful and corrupt official 
misconduct, set forth according to the requisition of the constitution, and proved ac- 
cording to the common rides of evidence. I see many things imprudent and ill judged ; 
many things that I could wish had been otherwise: but corruption and crime I do 
not see. Sir, the prejudices of the day will soon be forgotten; the passions, if any 
tiiore be, which havee.xcited or favored this prosecution, will subside ; but the conse- 
quence of the judgment you are about to render will outhve both tju in and you. The 
Respondent is now brought, a single unprotected individual, to this formidable bar of 
judgment, to stand against the power and authority of the State. I know you can 
crush him, as he stands before you, and clolhed as you are with the sovereignty of 
the State. You have the power "' to change his countenance, and to send hini away."' 
Kor do I remind you that your judgnieni is to be rejudged by the communitv; and 
as you have summoned him for trial to this high Iribuna!, you are soon to de.eccnd 
yourselves from these seats of justice, and stand before t!ie higher tribunal of the 
world. 1 would not fail so much in resixct to this Hon. ('-ourt, as to hint that it 
could pronounce a sentence which the cominunily will reverse. IVo, sir, it is not the 
vorld's revision which I vvould call on you to regard ; but that of your own conscien- 
ces when years iiave gone by, and you shall look back on the sentrnce you are about 
to render. If you send away tiie Respondent, condemned aiul sintcnced, from vour 
bar, you are yet to nitet him in the world, on which you cast him out. You will be 
calleii to behold him a disgrace to his family, a sorrow and a shame lo his children, 
a living fountain of grief and agony to himself. 

'If you si- 11 then be able to behold him only as an nninst judge, whom vengeance 
has overtaken, and justice has blasted, you will he alile to look upon him, not without 
pity, but yet without retnorsc. Hut if, on the other hand, you shall sec, whenever and 
wherever yoii meet him, a victim of prejudice or of passion, a sacrifice to a transient 
excitement; if you shall s<'e in him, a man, for whose condemnation any provisicui of 
tile constitution has been violated, or any principle of Law broken down ; then will he 
be able — humble and low as may be bis condition— liien will he be able to turn the 
current of compassion backward, ancl to look witli nity on those who have been jiuiges. 
If you are about to visit this Respondent with a judguient which shall blast his house; 



LIFE OF DANIGL WEBSTER. 33 

if the bosoms of ilic innocent and the amiable are to be made to bleed under your in- 
fliction, I beseech vou to bu able to state clear and strong grounds for your procecdin.^;. 
Prejudice and exci'tem- nt are transitory, and will ^mss away. Political expediency, 
in matters of judicature, is a false and hollow principle, and will nevur satisly the 
conscience of htm who is fearful that he may have given a hasty judgment. 1 ear- 
nestly entreat you, for your own sakes, to possess yourselves of solid n uson-s, foimded 
in truth and justice, for the judgment you pronounce, which you can carry wiih you, till 
you go down into your graves; reasons, which it will require no argument to revive, 
no sophistry, no excitement, no regard to popular favor, to render satisfactory lo your 
consciences; reasons which you can appeal to, in every crisis of your livi.s and 
which shall be able to assure you, in your own great extremity, that you have not 
judged a fellow creature witliout mercy. 

'Sir, I have done with the case of this individual, and now leave him in your 
hands. But I would yet once more appeal to you as public men ; as statesmen; as 
men of enlightened minds, capable of a large view of things, and of foreseeing the 
remote conseviueiices of important transactions; and, as such, I would most earnestly 
implore you to consider fully of the judgment you may pronounce. You are about 
to give a construction to constitutional provi.sions, which may adhere to that in.siru- 
ment for ages, either for good or evil. I may perhaps overrate the importance of this 
occasion lo the public welfare; but I confess it does appear to me tnat if this body 
give its sanction to some of the principles which have been ailvaneed on this occa- 
sion, then there is a power in the State above the constitution and the l;iw ; a power 
essentially arbitrary and concentrated, thee.xercise of whicli may be most dangerous. 
If impeachment be not under the rule of the constitution and the laws, then niay we 
tremble, not only for those who may be impeacbed, but for all otiurs. If the full 
benefit of everv constitutional provision be not extended to the llesponderit, his case 
becomes tiie case of all the people of the Commonweailh. The constitution is their 
constitution. They have made it for their own protection, and for his among the 
rest. They are not eager for his conviction. They are not thirsting f>r nis blood. 
If he be condemned, without having his offences set forth, in the mariner whieh 
they, by their constitution have prescribed ; and proved in the manner which they, by 
their laws have ordained, then not only is he condemned unjustly, but the rights »t 
the whole people disregarded. For the sake of the people themselves, therefore, I 
would resist ail attempts to convict by straining the laws, or getting over their pro- 
hibitions. I hold up before him the broad shield of the constitution : if through that 
he be pierced and fall, he will be but one sufferer, in a common catastrophe.' 

In lS2'j, a resolution being presented to the House of Representative? for the ap- 
propriation of funds necessary to enable the President of the United States to scml 
Ministers to the Congress of Panama,— Mr. McLane, of Delaware, moved an 
amendment, the object of whieh was to restrain the power of the Ministers to be sent, 
to a 'diplomatic character merely,' and to previ nt them from discu.ssiu!;,ronsicl'r- 
iiia or consnllins{ on any proim^iitiuns of alliance, defeiisirc or u_/)'e!isire. Tlie 
amendment was minute and particular, but was not satisfactory to Mr. Rives, of 
Virginia, who proposed an adilition to the amendment, binding the Ministers stiH 
more closely. On this amendment, Mr. Webster addressed the House in a most 
able and learned argument. He said that there were only two questions to be con- 
sidered ; the first— 'Whether the House of Representatives w-ill assume the respon- 
sibility of wiihliolding the ordinary appropriation for carrying into effect an Executive, 
measure, which the Exec:utive department has constitutionallv instituted ! The sec- 
ond,— whether, if it will not withhold the aporopriutioa, it will yet take the responsi- 
bility of interposing with its own oijinions, directions, or instructions, as to the man- 
ner in which tills particular F^xecutive measure shall be conducted 7' The debate had 
become animated before Mr. Webster arose, and he had become deeply interested in 
the question, and came out with spirit and determination, and took as wide a survey 
iis his opponents had ventured upon. Those unfriendly to the original motion, and 
those who moved the amendment were the same, or m*arly so. The friends of the 
Presideui thought, that a restricticjii such as this amendment proposed would unne- 
cessarily interfere with the duties and prerogatives of the lOxecutjve, and be a bad 
precedent, even if within the course of Congressional authority. Such a power was 
not probably even contemphiied by the framers of tlie ( Umstitiitinii. 

Many of the topics of the debate were very general, and some of those called inci- 
dental were as interesting, if not more so, than the main question. South Ainerica 
had lately commenced a struggle for independence. It was no easy thing to shake otf 
the yoke, which had for tiges been fixed on thtnr necks. The thime of liberty had 
•spread from province to province, from mountain to mountain,-- through all the plains 
and vales from Mexico to Peru. The voices of men fiuhting for freedom were echoed 
through the whole land. The morning sun saw the ardent patriots on the east of the 



34 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Andes, pouring out their blood as free as water, for liberty ; and his evening ray witii 
all its mildness, witnessed 'the spasms of infuriated man, struggling to recover his 
long lost liberty,' as the light streamed from the pacific to the glaciers. The oppressed 
had risen in one mass and hurled the tyrants iind their minions to the dust, or drove 
tliein from the country, or confined the few remaining engines of tyranny to some 
narrow limits or some half a dozen strong holds. Thelovcrs of liberty in this coun-_ 
try and every countrv where liberty has a home, hailed with delight the prospect of 
South American Emancipation. The pairiuis had every thing to do, and they went 
on, as far as they knew what to do, with energy, patience, and perseverance. The 
cause was dear to the people of the United States, and they watched every breeze from 
the South with an anxious ear for the news from that agitated country. As soon as 
this country saw that there was a fair prospect, tliat South America could, with some 
assistance and good fortune, maintain their independence, the United Slates took part 
with them in feeling, if tlicy could do no more. From these symptoms, and from his 
own heart, the President of the United States had s)oken boldly and freely upon the 
subject of their indepmdence, and the peoiile were unanimous in repeating his decla- 
rations, and agreed to support him heart and hand, in the part he should take in the 

cause. J • 1 • 

South America had been a region of romance to us ; we had traced its history from 
the di.=^covery of tlie countrv to'the revoluiiou. INature had marked it with most e.\- 
iraordinnry features,— exhibiting all that is wild, beautiful, and magnificent in scene- 
ry; it has also nil the varieties of eliniafe, from perpetual verdure to etenial snows,— 
and its history abounds m the marvellous. The hisiorian can give no satisfactory ac- 
roiint of the nations I'onnd there, when thti Spaniards came to subdue it. The con- 
(jiiestof it bv Pizarro and Coriez is a tale of wonder throughout. The mild, soft, and 
lovely simpHciiy of the natives, has been, in a good measure, lost by Spa nisli cruelty, 
and the succeeding race of intermingled idood unite some of the worst traits of both 
nations,— indolence and ferocitv. Spain has been cursed in a thousand ways for the 
blood she has wantonlv .«pilled : but in none is it more distinctly seen than in the 
eliects of the treasures she has drawn from South America. Spain has been pliin- 
dered and drained of the gold she wrung from her colonies, and other nations enjoy 
v\ hat her avarice produced. She ruled her colonies with a rod of iron ; and, for the 
purpose of quenching everv ray of civil liberty, had shrouded them with the thickest 
mantle of superstition, and from jealousy and bigotry had shut thein from the rest of 
tlir world. ,\!! natinns were excludcrj from the ininu-iise scaboartl of South America ; 
a seaboard, the exten' of which was half a meaj^ure of the circumference of the globe 
itself. The mother country carried on her commerce sluggishly, and on her own 
tenny. No olive tree or vine was allowed to grow on soils most congenial to their cul- 
tivation. Now and then a smuggler stole into a port of South America at the risk of 
his property and life ; or sometimes, perhaps, necessity made a viceroy open a port for 
a few months, but the colonies had no regular trade with any nation. This state ot 
things could not last for ever. Some rays of light burst in upon the darkest portions 
of t fiat country. Although books were prohibited, and the press not allowed, yet the 
hislorv of our revolution, and that of Fram-e became partially known to the people, 
particiilarly to the most enterprising; and in everv country there will always be some 
more restless and active than the rest ;— added to this, several young men ol the Span- 
ish and half-blood wvvii sent out of the eeiuitry to the United States and to England, 
fi.r the purpose of getting an education. These, on their return home, became dissat- 
isfied with the state of things, and began secretly to take measures to disseminate in- 
telligence among the people ; and step by tiep they increased their inlluencc and pow- 
er; which, at last, their iiKJolcnt masters saw, and in attempting to put them down 
brought on the revolution. The patriotSj after extraordinary eflbrls, were successful. 
If all the sanguine anficipatetl, has not been realized in their march to Ireedom, yet, 
much has been donj in the cause of liberty ; and notwithstamhng the contusion, the 
counter-revolutions, and wars with one another, st J! the hopes of the sagacious are 
not exlingiushed, but it is fiillv believed, that Time will bring healing upon his wings 
for these Republics, now toin wnli iutesime broils, and suflering with unnatural 
C' inflicts. , , 1 n 1 

When these new Republics felt that they had done much, and had still more to do, 
they proposed a ("ongress to meet at Panama to disi:u.-'S their domestic and foreign 
r-lations, in order to n'lke their stand with advantage among the nations ot the world. 
The United Statr's were invited to send a representation to this body, and the Presi- 
dent accepted of the invitation. The ajipropriation for their salaries was now under 
discussion. Mr. Webster, full of the history of that wild and womierful region, still 
came to the debate with a coolness, and a bu.'qness spirit that iiecanie a statesnian.— 
He indulgrd in no unreasonable glow of romance upon the occasion ; but considered 
the liuest'ion as one involving the great doetrmes on which our country had acted Irotn 



Ul'K OF DANISI. WEBSTER. 35 

her birth. There were no rnptnrous views of Hlicrtv,— nothiiij; of that Bweliins im- 
portance which is often fouiui ;iniong some of our statcsnu-n, who tliink the whole 
world must yield iniplieiily lo all oiir ininn'ssiniis rf ii_i;ht and wrong whatever thry 
might be; biit lie put the tiulijecl on well settled I'riiiciples, and dared to liazard all 
consequences upon them. .South .Xinerica was striijjidinK for emancipation, and he 
wished the United States to say to the worlil, 'that as we saved ourselves by such 
principles, we dare avow them, and act ui)on tiiein, when other States are contending 
for their rights also.' .Mr. Web.-^ter did nut wish this country to make a Quixotic 
avowal, in the case that we woiiW iro with t!iem heart and hanel at all lengths, but sim- 
ply to say that we wouki consult with them at all proper times and on all occasions, and 
do all for them consistent with our existing duties. This was inanly and it was right 
also. 

Mr. Canning, the British Premier, boasted, tlial he had created the South .Ameri<-an 
Republics; this was the vanity of the gri'al statesman, for the fire had descended 
from heaven and the mass ,if c^.iy had been quickened into life, and stood erect as a 
man, before he. who would be tliougtit the modern I'roiuellieus, hatl contemplated tlie 
creation that swelled ins lu^art with so nnieh pride. 

From the breaking nut of the revolunon in South America up to the time of the 
Congress of Panama, the people of that (.■ouniry looked to those of iheUnited Stales 
for strong sympathies and friendlv courtesies, if not for direct assislaiT/e; and the 
United Status were not only friendly but euthusiasiic in the cause of freedovn ; but 
some changes had come over a portion of our people, whni this resolution for the ai - 
propriation of funds to defray the expenses of this Panama nii--sioii was olliTiid in the 
House of P.,epre3ent:uives ; yet, notwithstanding this change, ii w;\s not a little singu- 
lar, and somewhat painful, to hear iii Congress, the sons of those who had invoked 
gods and men to assist them in their revolutionary struggles, talking with so miieli 
indiflereuce on this great question. Tlr.irs was a eas' of stronger ODpres-kiu i!;an 
ours. The grievances of th.e British Colonies consisted chiefly in assumption of f.ilse 
principles on the part of tiie motiier country, out of which e\ils might have grown, 
out their caMS(_^ of rebellion was absolute, heartfelt misery from the hand of the oppres- 
sor, irhn.ic liltlfi fiiiu'er wat; thicki:r than thcloiiis of those who ojipressed us. 

Mr. \Vel)Ster had no hesitation in boldly avowing his sympathy for the people of 
'South America. In the cdose of his spe.'ch, he said, 'If it be a weakness to feel the 
frvmpathy of one's nature e.xcited for such nuMi, in such a cause, 1 am guilty of that 
wealuiess. If it be prudence to meet their prolferetl civility, not with reciprocal kini!- 
ness, but with coldness or insult I still choose to follow where natural imj'ulse leads, 
and to give up that false and mistaken prudence, for the voluntary sentunents of my 
Ifart." 

The whole speech is full of sound arguments and honorable feelings. Tlie folknv- 
ing extract, a small portion oi tiie speecli, glai 'es at tlie situation of South America,' 
and touches upon the policy our fTovernment should i)Ursue. 

'lam, then^fore, Mr. Chairman, against the ameudmenl ; not only as not lacing a 
proper manner of exercising any power belonging to this House ; but also as not con- 
taining instructions fit to be givcni, if we possessed the power of giving them. And 
as my vote will rest on these grounds, I might terminate niy remarks here; but the 
discussion lias extended over a broader surface, and following where others have led, 
1 will ask your indulgence to a few observations on the more general topics of the 
debate. 

' Mr. Chairman : It is our fortune (o be called upon to act our part, as public men, 
at a most interesting era in human affairs. Tlie short period of vourlife, and of mine, 
has been thick and crowded with the most important events. jVoi only new interests 
and new relations have sprung up among State.;, but new societies, new nation.s, and 
families of nations, have, risen to talce their places, and perform tiieir parts, in the-; 
order and the interc()urse of the world. F-vcry man, aspiring to the character of a 
statesman, must endeavor to enlarge his views to iTiect this new stateof things, lie 
must aim at adequate coiuiireheiisioii, and instead of being satisfied with that narrow 
political sagacity, v,-hich, like the power of minute vision, sees small things accurateh.-. 
but can see nothing else, he must look to the far horizon, and embrace, in his broad 
survey, whatever the series of recent events has brought into connexion, near or re- 
mote, with the country whose interests he studies to serve. VVe have seen eight 
States, fonned out of colonies on our own continent, assume the rank of nations. 

'This is a mighty revolution, and when we consider what an extent of the 
surface of the globe they cover; through what climates they extend ; what population 
they contain, and what new impulses tliey iniis' derive from this change of govern- 
ment, we cannot but perceive that "reat efTects are likely to be produced on the inter- 
course, and the interests of tlie civQized w-ir'.i. Indeed, it has been forcibb Poid, by 
the intfeUigent and distingMiih'd s'atesmau who conaucts the foreign reiaiione df 



36 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTKR, 

England, that when we now speak of Europe and the world, we mean Europe anr: 
America ; and that the different systems of thrive two portions of the globe, and (heir 
Kcveral and various interests, must be thoroughly studied and nicely balanced by the 
statesmen of the times. 

'In many respects, sir, the European and the American nations are alike. They 
are alike Christian States, civilized States, and commercial States. They have ac- 
cess to the same common fountains of intelligence; they ail draw from those sources 
which belong to the whole civilized world. In knowledge and letters — in the arts of 

Eeace and war, they differ in degrees ; but they bear, nevertheless, a genera! resem- 
lance. On the other liand, in matters of government and social institution, she na- 
tions on tliis continent are founded upon pnnciples which never did prevail, in conside- 
rable extent, either at any otiier time, or in any other place. There has never been 
presented to the mind of man a more interesting subject of conteinplation than the 
establishment of so many nations in America, partaking in the civilization and in the 
arts of the old world, but having left behind inem thoge cumbrous institutions which 
had their origin in a dark and military age. Whatsoever European experience has 
developed favorable to the freedom and the happiness of man ; whatsoever European 
genius has invented for his miprovement or gratification ; whatsoever of refinement 
or poli?h the culture of European society presents for his adoption and enjoyment- 
all this is offered to man in America, with the additional advantages of the full power 
of erecting forms of government on free and simple principles, without overturning 
institutions suited to times long passed, but too strongly supported, either by interests 
or prejudices, to be shaken without convulsions. This unprecedented state of things 
presents the happiest of all occasions for an attempt to establish national intercourse 
upon improved principles; upon principles tending to peace, and the mutual prospe- 
rity of nations. In this respect, America, the wnole of America, has a new career 
before her. If we look back on the history of Europe, we sec how great a portion of 
the last two centuries her States have been at war for interests connected mainly with 
her feudal monarchies ; wars for particular dynasties ; wars to support or defeat par- 
ticular successions; wars to enlarge or curtail the dorninions of particular crowns • 
wars to support or to dissolve family alliances; wars, in fine, to enforce or to resist 
religious intolerance. What long and bloody chapters do these not fill in the history 
of European politics! Who does not see, and who does not rejoice to see, th;it 
America has a glorious chance of escaping, at least, these causes of contention. Who 
does not see, and who does not rejoice to see, that, on this continent, under other 
forms of government, we have before us the noble hope of being able, by the mere 
influence of civil liberty and religious toleration, to dry up these outpouring fountains 
of blood, and to extinguish these consuming fires of war. The general opinion of the 
age favors such hopes and such pro.spects. There is a growing disposition to treat the 
intercourse of nations more like the useful intercourse of frientis; philosophy—just 
views of national advantage, good sense and the dictates of a common religion, and 
an increasing conviction that war is not the interest of the human race — all concur to 
increase the interest created by this new accession to the list of nations. 

'We have heard it said, sir, that the topic of South American Independence is worn 
out, and thread-bare. Such it may be, sir, to those who have contemplated it merely 
as an article of news, like the fluctuation of the markets, or the rise and fall of stocks. 
Sucii it may be, to those minds who can see no consequences following from these 
great events. But whoever has either understood their present importance, or can at 
all estimate their, future influence— whoever has reflected on the new relations they 
introduce with oilier States— whoever, among ourselves especially, has meditated on 
the new relations which we now bear to them, and the striking attitude in which we 
ourselves are now placed, as the oldest of the American nations, will feel that the 
topic can never be without interest ; and will be sensible, that, whether we are wise 
enough to perceive it or not, the establishment of South American independence will 
affect all nations, and ourselves perhaps more than any other, through all coming 

'But, sir, although the independence of these new States seems effectually accom- 
plishefl, yet a lingering and hopeless war is kept up against them by Spain. This is 
greatly to be regretted by all nations. To Spain it is, as every reasonable man sees, 
useless, and without hope. To the new States themselves it is burdensome and 
afflictive. To the commerce of neutral nations it is annoying and vexatious. There 
seerns to be something of the pertinacity of the Spanish character in holding on in 
such a desperate course. It reminds us of the seventy vears during which Spain re- 
sisted the mdependence of Holland. I think, however, that there is some reason to 
believe that the war approaches to its end. I believe that the measures adopted by 
our own Government have had an effect in tending to produce that result. I iinder- 
eiand, at least, that the question of recognition has been taken into consideration by 



UPR OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 37 

tlie Spanish (Jov.-.rnment ; n\u\ it mav lie hoped that a war, which Spain finds tube so 
expensive, which the whole wiiild tells her is so ho|)eless. and whicli, if continued, now 
threatens her with new danji;rs, she may, ere loni.', have the iinideiice to terminate. 

'Ourown course durinsjthis cmtest between .Spain and her colonies is well known. 
Though entirely and strictly neuirrd, we were in favor of early recognitiori. Our 
opinions were known to the allied sovereigns when in Confrress at Aix-la-Chapelle 
in ISlS, at wliich time the affairs of Spain and her colonies were under consideration ; 
and, probably, the knijvvledge of those sentiments, together with the policy adopted by 
England, prevented any int<ufcrenoe by other powers at that time. Yet we have 
Created Spain with scrupulous delicacv. We acted on the case as one of civil war. 
We treated with the new (iovernmen IS as Governments de facto. Not questioning 
the right of Spain to coerce them back to their old obedience, if she had the power, we 
yet held it to be our right to deal with tluin ns wiih existing Governments in fact, 
when the moment arrived at which it b<'cnme ai)parent and manifest that the domin- 
ion of Spain over these, her ancient colonies, was at an end. Our right, our interest, 
and our duty, all concurred at that nionient to recommend recognition— and we did 
recognise. ,■ j 

'Now, sir, the history of this proposed Congress goes back to an earlier date than 
that of our recognition. It commenced in 1821 ; and one of the treaties now before 
us, proposing such a meeting, that between (.'olombia and Chili, was concluded in 
July, 1822, a few months only after we had acknowledged the independence of the 
new Stares. The idea originated, doubtless, in the wi:?h to strengthen the union 
among the new governments, and to promote the common cause of all, the effectual 
resistance to Spanish authority. As independence was at that time their leading ob- 
ject, it is natural io suppose that they contemplated this mode of iimtual intercourse 
and mutual arrangement, as favorable to the necessary co^iccntration of purpose and 
of action, for the attainment of that object. But this purpose of the Congress, or this 
leading idea, in which it may be supposed to have originated, has led, as it seems ti> 
me, to great misapprehensions as to its true character, and great mistakes in regard to 
the danger to be apprehended from our sending ministers to the meeting. Thts meet- 
ing, sir, IS a Congress— not a Congress as the \vord is known to our Constitution and 
laws, for we use it in a peculiar sense ; but as it is known to the law of nations. A_ 
Congress, by the law of nations, is but an appointed meeting fir the settlement of 
affairs between dift'erent nations, in which the representatives or agents of each treni; 
and negotiate as they are instructed by their own government. In other words, this 
Congress is a diplomatic meeting. We are asked to join no government— no legisla- 
ture — no league— acting by votes. It is a Congress, such as those of Westphalia, of 
Nimeguen, of Ryswyck, or of Utrecht; or such as those which have been holden in 
Europe, in our own lime. No nation is a party to any thirig done in such asstinbhcj, 
to which it does not expressly make itself a party. No one's rights are put at the dis- 
jiosition of any of the rest, or of all the rest. Wliat mini-sters agree to, being after- 
wards duly ratified at home, binds their government ; and nothing else binds the gov- 
ernment. Whatsoever is done, to which they do not assent, neitlier binds the minis- 
ters nor their government, any more than if they had not been present. 

'These truths, sir, seem too plain, and too common-place to be stated. I find my 
apology only in those misapprehensions of the character of the meeting to which I 
have referred both now and formerly. It has been said that commercial treaties are 
not negotiated at such meetings. Far otherwise is the fact. Among the earliest of 
important stipulations made in favor of commerce and navigation, were those at 
Westphalia. And what we call the treaty of Utrecht, was a bundle of treaties nego- 
tiated at that Congress: some of peace, some of boundary, and others of commerce. 
Again, it has been said, in order to prove that this meeting is a sort of confederacy, 
that such assemblies areouiof the way of ordinary negotiation, and arealwavs founded 
on, and provided for, by previous treaties. Prav, sir, what treaty preceded the Con- 
gress at Utrecht ? and the meeting of our Plenipotentiaries with those of England at 
Ghent, what was that but a Congress? and what treaty preceded it .' It is said, 
again, that there is no sovereign t'o whom our ministers can be accredited. Let me 
ask whether, in tlie case last cited, our ministers exhibited their credentials to the 
mavor of Ghent ? Sir, the practice of nations in these matters ts well known, and 
IS fre€ of difficulty. If the Government be not present, agents or Plenipotentiaries 
interchange their credentials. And when it is said that our ministers at Panama will 
be, not mimsters, but deputies, members of a deliberative body, not protected in their 
public character by the public law ; when all this is said, propositions are advanced, 
of which I see no evidence whatever, and which appear to me to be wholly without 
foundation. 

'It is contendfd that this Congress, by -i-irtua of the treaties which the new states 
h«'eent6red into, v.iU possess powers other than those of adipbmatic character, as 



38 LIFE OF DAMEL WP-ESTER. 

betvve.en fliose new .States themselves. If that were so. it would be unimportant to 
lis. The real question here is, what will be onr relation with those States, by send- 
ing minister;- to this f'on^ress? Their arrangements among themselves v.'ill not af- 
I'ect us. Even it" it were a Government like our old confederation, yet, if its members 
had authority to treat with us in behalf of their respective nations on subjects on 
whicli we have a right to treat, the Congress might still be a very proper occasion for 
such negotiations. Do gentlemen forget that the French J^Jinister was introduced to 
our old Congress, met in its sessions, carried on oral discusrions with it, and treated 
with it in behalf of the French King"? All tliat did not make him a member of it ; 
nor connect him at all with the relations which its nicmbers bore to each other. As 
be treated on the subject of carrying on the war against England, it was, doubtless, 
hostile towards that power; but this consequence followed I'roui the abject and nature 
of the stipulations, and not from the manner of the intercourse. The representatives 
of these South American States, it is said, will carry on belligerent councils at this 
(Jongress. Be it so; we shall not join in such councils. At the moment of invita- 
tion, our Government informed the ministers of those States, that we cotdd not make 
ourselves a party to the war between them and Spain, nor to councils for delibera- 
ting on llie means of its further prosecution. 

'If, it is asked, we Bend ministers to a Congress coinposed altogether of belligerents, 
is it not a breach of neutrality? Certainly not ; no man can say it is. Suppose, sir, 
that these ministers from the new States, instead of Panama, were to assemble at 
Jiogota, where we already have a minister; their councils, at that place, might be 
belligerent, while the war should last with Spain. But should we. on that account, 
recall our minister from Bogota ? The whole argument rests on this; that because, 
at the same time and place, the agents of the South American Governments may ne- 
gotiate about their own r.'lations with each other, in regard to their common war 
against Spain, therefore we cannot at the same time and place, negotiate with them, 
or any of them, upon our own neutral and commercial relations. This proposition, 
sir, cannot be maintained ; and, therefore, all the inferences from it fail. 

'But sir, I see no proof that, as between themselves, the representatives of the 
South American States are to possess other than diplomatic powers. I refer to the 
treaties, which are essentially alike, and whii'h have been often read. 

'With two exceptions, (which I will notice,) ilie ariicies of these treaties, describing 
the powers of tlie Congress, are siibstaniialiy like those in the treaty of Paris, in ISl-I, 
providing for tlie Coiigress at Vienn:i. It wn? tliere stipulaitd tliat all the powers 
.should send plenipoteniiarir-s to Vienna, to regulate, in general Congress, the arrange- 
ments to complete the provisions of the present treaty. Now, it might have been 
here asked, how regulate? How regulate in general Congress'?— regulate by votes ? 
Sir, nobody asked such questions ; simply because it was to be a Congress of pleni- 
potentiaries. The two e.xceptions which 1 have mentioned, are, that this Congress is 
to act as a council and to interpret treaties : but there is nothing in either of these to 
be done which may not be done dijilomatically. What is more common than diplo- 
matic intercourse, to explain and to interpret treat!;,-? Or what more fieqiient than 
that nations, having a common object, jnterchangc mutual counsels and advice, 
through the medium of tlnir respective ministers? To bring this matter, sir, to the 
test, let me ask, when these ministers assemble at Panama, can they do any thing 
but according to their instructions ? Have they atiy organization, any power of 
action, or any rule of action common lo them all ? No mon', sir, than the respective 
ministers at the Congress of Vienna. If.very thing ia settled by the use of the word 
Plenipotentiary. Tliat proves the meeting to be diplomatic, and nothing else. VVho 
ever heard of a Plenipotentiary member of the Lf»;islature '.'—a plenipotentiary burgess 
of a city?— or a plenipotintiafy knight of the shire? 

' We may dismiss all fears, sir, ansing from the nature of this meeting. Our agents 
will go there, if they go at all, in the eharacier of ministers, protected by the public 
law, negotiating only for ourselves, and not called on to violate any neutral duty ot 
their own government. If it he so that this meeting has other powers, in consequence 
of other arrangements between other States, of uhich I see no proof, still we are 
not party lo these arrangements, nor can be in any way aftected by them. As far as 
this government is concerned, nothing can be done l)Ut by negotiation, as in other 
cases. 

'It has been affirmed, that this measure, and the sentiments expressed by the Ex- 
ecutive relative to its objects, are an acknowledged departure from the neutral policy 
of the United States. Sir, I deny there is an acknowledged departure, or any depart- 
ure at all, from tlie neutral policy of the country. What do we mean by our neutral 
policy ? Not, I suppose, a blind and stupid indifference to whatever is passing around 
us ; not a total disregard to approaching events, or approaching evils, till they meet 
us full in the face. JXor do we mean, by our neutral policy, that we intend never to 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 39 

assert our rights by force. No, sir. We mean by nur iiolicv of ncutralitv, that th? 
great objucts of national pursuit witii us are connected wilh peace. VV'f; covet no 
provinces; we desire no concniesis ; we entertain no aiiibilious projects of agtjrnn- 
dizemcnt by war. This is our policy. But it does not follow, from this, that wo rely 
less than other nations, on our own power to vindicate our own rights. We know 
that the last logic of kmgs is also our last lo^ic ; that our own interests must be de- 
fended and mamtained by our own arm ; ana that peace or war may not always be 
of ourosvn choosing. Our neutral policy, therefore, not only jiistities but requires, our 
an.xious attention to the political events which take place in the world, a skilful per- 
ception of their relation lo our own concerns, and an early anticipation of their con- 
sequences, and firm and timely asneriion of what we hold to be our own rights, and 
our own interests. Our neutrality is not a predetermined abstinence, eitlier from 
remonstrances, or from forci-. Oar neutral policy is a policy that protects neutrality, 
that defends neutrality, that takes U|) arms, if need be, for ncutr.dity. When it is said, 
therefore, that this nieasure departs from our neutral iiolicy, either that pclicy, or the 
measure itself, is misunderstood. It implies either that the object or the tendeni'y oi 
the measure is to involve us in the war of other Stales, which I think cannot be 
shown, or that the assertioii of our own sentiments, on points afTecting deeply our 
own interests, may place us in a hostile attitude with other States, ancl that, there- 
fore, we depart from neutrality; whereas, the truth is, that the decisive assertion, and 
the firm support of these sentiments, may be most esseiuial to the maintenance of 
neutrahty. 

'An honorable member from Pennsylvania thinks this Congress will bring a dark 
day over the United .States. Doubtless, sir, it is an interesting moment in our history ; 
but I see no great proofs of thick coming darkness. But the object of the remark 
seeined to be to show that the President himself saw difficulties on all sid.'s, and, 
making a choice of evils, preferred rather to send ministers to this Congress, than to 
run the risk of exciting the hostility of the States by refusing to send. In other 
words, the gentleman wished to prove that the President intended an alliance; al- 
though such intention is expressly disclaimed. 

'Much commentary has been bestowed on the letters of invitation from the minis- 
ters. I shall not go through with verbal criticisms on these letters. Their general 
import is plain enough. I shall not gather together small and minute quotaiions, 
taking a sentence here, a word there, and a syllable in a third ijlace, dovetailing them 
into the course of remark, till the printcil discourse bristles wiih inverted commas, iii 
every line, like a harvest-field. I look to the general tenor of the invitations, and I 
find that we are asked to take part only in such things as concern ourselves. 1 look 
still more carefully to the answers, and 1 see every proper caiiti.in, and proper guar.!. 
I look to the message, and I see that luuhing is there conteniiilaiKl, likely to involve 
us in other men's quarrels, or that may justly give oflence to any foreign Slate. 
With this. I am satistjed.' 

In April, 18.JS, a bill was before Congress for the relief of certain ofTiecrs of the 
revolutionary war. In 17^n. the army w as in a state of wrerchedness, in want of food, 
clothes, and pav, and it s.-eined as if the cans.; was, after all the striig.;li:s and harJ- 
s'ii()s, about to hf abandoned lor want of means to support an army. In thissiiateof 
ailans, Congress had resort to an act, giving in the niemtudeof a promise, half-pay 
f'lr life 10 lliose officers who would eiigrge to serv" their country iluriag the war. 
This body staki'd the faith of the nation for the redemption of the pleiige. The brave 
suH'erers accepted the otll^r, believing that the country would be able to pay them if 
the war was once fairly eiiiled, and Iliey were determined to end it as soon as nossible. 
By this, new life ancJ i nergy was reytored to the army, and tiicv went on wilh a liigli 
spirit, trusting to this faith of the nation, so solemnly pledged. In 1783. Congress 
made a coinmutation of this hall-pay for life, reasoning upon whtit they tliought the 
country was able to pay, raiher than upon the t(Tm8 of the solemn contract. A few 
agents spake and acted for the whole, body ejf the oflicers ; but as a body the officers 
Were never satisfied with the result, with this huckstering of the (Jovernmenl. Many 
fell into the nieasure, fearing that if this commuintion was refused, nothing would 
<?yer be obtained. Some tiiouglit perhaps this was the best the eountry could do, and 
of C(jurse were silent. The old soldier who liad made so manv sacrifices, was not 
disposed to quarrel now, about this act of injustice, after he had been quiet so long- 
Some had a strong faith that when the treasury should be full, and the naiion pros- 
erous, all would conu' right. When the time of in-ace and pr.isperity did arrive, a 
iw making provision for theofiieersand soldiers of the revolution, was fecoinmended 
by the President of thelli\ited States, and passed by (^ongress. 'I'hisdid nmch good, 
and saved many from living upon the charity of friends, or from sutli-ring; but the 
flct was so narrowly construed, that none but those, absolutelv Huirenng for daily 
Jjrcad were considered within the pale of it. lint fe>v of the otTicers who had accepted 



?. 



40 LIKE OF DANltL WEBSTER. 

of the commutation, had come within the act passed in 1818, and they petitioned Con- 
gress for some settlement in equity and justice of their claims. Influential agents 
were chosen from the survivors of those officers who had accepted the offer of Con- 
jiiress in 17S0, who repaired to Washington to represent the merits of their claims 
before a committee of Congress. They made their appearance ;— the silver-haired 
veterans were seen pacing the lobbies of the capitol, waiting to catch a look from 
same member who was supposed to be .friendly, or to have some influence in the 
House or Senate, when the bill should be called up. One would have supposed that 
such a bill would have passed with acclamation, but there were many difficulties in 
the way, that could hardly be imagined. Those who said any thing upon the subjectj 
considered that these old soldiers had a good claim on the country, in equity; but all 
equitable claims had not legal rights, nmch less remedies. A new generation had 
arisen since the revolutionary war, who thought it the most prudent way to consider 
ail these matters as out-lavved. The whole subject was excellent on the page of 
history; shone bright there, and made up no small part of our glory, but to pay for 
this was too bad ! They acted virtually upon the ma.xim of the philosopher, who 
said, 'It was well enough for dutiful children to raise a monument to their departed 
parents, but succeeding generations were romantic who should rebuild the pile when 
m a state of dilapidation.' The subject of hard-fighting ancestors was all-glorious, 
•was excellent fo jxiini a moral or adorn a lale, hut to pay for all this after half a 
century, was something too near vulgar life ; to put thtir hands into the treasury ana 
to take out gold for those old stones, was too bad ! It would take ofi'no small portion 
of the delight they had felt in contemplating the subject, to do this ! 

Some of the members had constituents whose country had come into existence, as 
a place of civihzation, since all these thmgs had happened, since these talked-of 
services had been performed ; and ii could not be expected that they would look back 
far enough to trace ilieir connexion with the services of these old .soldiers. These 
men were brought reluctaiuly, if at all, to vote for such a bill. The impassioned 
appeal was to them, like lightning on the iinpassirc ice. Their hearts were cold to 
the claim of the warriors who had fought half a century ago. There were some 
noble exceptions to this remark among those whose constituents were not directly 
interested. The.se met objection after objection, contended with their opponents 
without flinching, and put down sneer and sarcasm with honest intentions and good 
feelings, and held on until victory was secured. These good men and true, felt heart- 
sick at times, to hear the old suldier reviled, or treated with disrespect. 

Mr. Webster, thinking the question a clear one, and believing that the bill would pass 
without any difficulty, and being much engaged in other matters of business, had not 
thouglit of making a speech on the subject, but looking around, and seeing the ven- 
erable agents of these venerable relics of other days,— Ogden and Reed,— officers who 
had fought without fear, and lived without reproach, except that of being made poor 
by devoting their lives and property to the cause of the revolution ; he could restrain 
himself no longer ; but resolved to come to the succour, to the joy of the old soldiers. 
He condensed all the arguments in favor of the bill into a few favorable remarks, and 
struck down those raised against it at a blow. The argument was condensed, strong, 
and in fact irresistible. No war-cry ever raised these veteran officers as did his 
speech,— they laughed, they wept, they were happy. If the bill had been rejected, and 
they ordered to the scafibld. it would have been of no consequence to them at that 
moment; for they had lived to hear, after half a century, themselves defended by one 
who felt their wrongs, and knew their rights ; one who spake of them without fise, 
favor, or reward, excejit that reward which arises from a consciousness of having 
done one's duty. The tears of the veterans were infectious, the sympathy extended 
to the audience, reached the members of the Senate,— and the bill passed. The nation 
hailed it as one more act of reluctant justice, and augured from it that in time some- 
thing further would be done to relieve those who ventured all for their country in her 
utmost need. 

This .short speech affords so favorable a .specimen of Mr. Webster s condensed and 
forcible style of argument, that it is here presented to the reader entire. ^ 

'It has not been my purpose to take any part in the discus.son of tins bill. My 
opinions in regard to its general object, I h(>i)e are well known ; ajid I had intended 
to content myself with a st(;ady and persevering vote in its favor. But, when the rno- 
ment of firial decision has come, and the division is so likely to be nearly equal, I feel 
il to be a duty to put not only my own vote, but my own earnest wishes also, and my 
fervent entreaties to others, mto the doubtful scale. ■ , • 

'It must be admitted, sir, that the persons for whcse benefit this bill is designs^, 
are, in some respects. ponuli:irlv utifortunate. They are compelled to meet not only 
objections to the principle, l)ut, whichever way they turn themselves, embarra.'ssing 
objections also to details. One fiiend hesitates at this provision, and another at thaiv 



LIKE or DANIIX WUK^-rKR. 41 

while those who are not frieml!! at all, of ponr.-o oppose every thing, and propose 
nothing. When it was coniKiiiplati'i!, lifi-ftoloro, to ^ivc the petitioners an outright 
sum, in satisfaction of their claim, then the nrLjuniiL-iit was, amoiii? other ihiuijs, that 
the treasury couhi not bear so heavy a draught on its means, ai the present moment. 

'The plan is accordingly changed : an annuity is proposed ; and then tiie olijection 
changes also ; and it is now said, that fais is hut granting pension.s, and that the pen- 
sion system has already been carried too far. J confess!, sir, 1 felt vs'ouiided— deeply 
hurt— at the observations oi' tlie genilenian from Georgia. " So tht n," said he, '" these 
modest and high-minded gentlemen take a pension at hist !'' How is it possible, that 
a gentleman of his generosity of character, and general kindness ol feeling, can in- 
dulge in such a tone of trinmidiaiu irony towards a few old. giuy headed, poor, and 
broken warriors of the revolution ! There is, I know, sometiung repulsive and op- 
probrious in the name of pension. But, God forbid that I should taunt them with it ! 
VVith grief, heart-full grief, do I behold the necessity which leads these veterans to ac- 
cept the bounty of their country, in a manner not the most agreeable to their feelings, 
Worn out and decrepit, represented before us by those, their former brothers in arms 
who totter along our lobbies, or stand leaning on their crutches. I, for one, would 
most gladly support such a measure as should consult at once their services, their 
years, their necessities, and the dehcacy'of their sentiments. I would gladly give, with 
promptitude and grace, witli gratitude and delicacy, that which merit has earned, and 
necessit\- demands. 

' Sir, what are the objections urged against this bill ? Let us look at them, and see 
if thev be real ; let us weigh them, to know if they be solid. Kor, sir, we are not act- 
ing on a slight matter. Nor is wiiat we do likely to pass unobserved now, or to be 
forgotten hereafter. I regarj tne occasion as one full of interest and fu'l of responsi- 
bility. Those individuals, the little remnant of a gallant band, wiiose days of youth 
and' manhood were spent for tlieir country in the toils ;md dangers of lue field, are 
now before us, poor and old,— intimating tiieir wants with reluctant delicacy, and ask- 
ing succour from their country vvilii decorous solicitude. How we shall livat tiieni, it 
behooves us well to consider, no! only for their sake, but for our own sake, also, and 
for the sake of the honor ot the country. Wliatever \ye do, will not be done in a cor- 
ner. Our constiuients will see it ; the people will si-e it ; the world will see it. 

'Let us candidly examine, then, theobjections which have been raised to this bill; 
with a disposition to yi' l.i to them, if from necessity we must ; but to overcome them, 
if in fairnes.s we can. . ..,,., 

^ la the first place, it is said, that we ought not to pass the bill, because it will involve 
us in a charge of unknown e.vtent. We are reminded, that when the general pension 
law for revolutionary sohliers passed, an expense was incurred far beyond what had 
been contemplated ;' that the estimate of the number of surviving revolutionary sol- 
diers, proved altogether fallacious; and that, for aught we know, the same mistake 
niav be committed now. 

' Is this objection well-founded ? Let me say, in the first place, that if one measure, 
right in itself, has gone farther than it was intended to be carried, for want of accu- 
rate provisions and adequate guards, this may furnish a very good reasi)n for supplying 
sncji guards and provisions in another measure, but can afiord no ground at all for re- 
jecting such other measure, altogether, if it be in itself just and necessary. We sliould 
avail ourselves of our experience, it seems to me, to correct what has been found 
amiss ; and not to draw from it an umiistinguishing resolution to do nothing, merely 
because it has taught us, that, m soiiieiliing we have already done, vye have acted with 
too little care. Iii the next place, does the fact bear out tins objection '? Is there any 
difficulty in ascertaining the number of the officers \yho will be benefited by this bill, 
and in estimating the expense, therefore, vvluch it will create .' I think there is none. 
The records in the department of war, and the treasury, furnish such evidence as that 
thereisnodant'erof material mistake. The diligence of the chairman of theconnnit- 
tee has enablen him to lay the facts, connected wiih this part of tin; case, so fully and 
minutely before the Senate, that I think no one can feel serious doubt. Indeeii, it is 
admitted by the adversaries of the bill, that this objection does not apply here with the 
same force as in the former pension-law. It is adiiutted that there isa greater facility 
in this case than in that, in ascertaining the number and names of those who will bo 
entitled to receive that bounty. 

'This obiection, then, is not founded in true principle; and if it were, it is not 
sustained by the facts. 1 think we ought not to yield to it, unless, (vvhich I know is 
not the sentiment which pervades the Senate,) feeling that the measure ought not to 
ass, we still prefer not to place our opposition to it on a distinct and visible ground, 

ut to veil it under vague and general objections. 

' In the second place, it has been objected, that the operation of the bill will be une- 
qual, because all officers of the same rank will receive eiiual benefit from it, although 

4* 



I 



42 l-lfK OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

they entered the army at different times, and were of different agps. Sir, is n9t this 
that son of ineciuality which must always exist in every aeiieral pro\ ision 7 Is it pos- 
sible that any law can descend into such particulars? Would there be any reason 
why it should do so, if it could'? The bill is intended for those, who, being in the 
arniy in October, 1780, then received a solemn iiromise of half-pay for life, on condi- 
tion that they would continue to serve through the war. Their ground of merit is, that 
■whensoever they had joined the army, being ihus solicited by their countrv to remam in 
it, thev at once went for the whole; they fastened their fortunes to the standards 
which they bore, and resolved to continue their military service till it should terminate 
either in their countrv's success, or in their own deaths. This istheii merit and their 
ground of claim. How long they had been already in service, is immaterial and un- 
important. They were then in service; the salvation of their country depended on 
their continuing in that service. Congress saw this imperative necessity, and earnestly 
solicited them to remain, and promised the compensation. They saw the necessity, 
also, and they yielded to it. , .„ . . 

' But, again, it is said that the present lime is not auspicious. The bill, it is urged, 
should not pass now. The venerable member from North Carolina says, as I under- 
stood him, that he would be almost as willing that the bill should pass at some other 
session, as be discussed at this. He speaks of the distresses of the country at the present 
moment, and of another bill, now in the Senate, having, as he thinks, the efieci of 
laying new taxes upon the people. He is for postponement. But it appears to me, 
with entire respect for the honorable member, that it is one of thecasesleast of allfit 
for postponement. It is not a measure, that, if omitted this year, may as well be done 
next. Before next year comes, those who need the relief may be beyond its reach. 
To postpone for another year, an annuity to persons already so aged; an annuity 
founded on the merit of services which were rendered half a century ago ; to postpone, 
for another whole year, a bill for the relief of deserving men,— proposing not aggran- 
dizement but support; not emolument but bread; is a mode of disposing oi it, in 
which I cannot concur. ,,,•,,, , , ■ 

' But it is argued m the next place, that the bill ought not to pass, because those who 
have spoken in its favor have placed it on diHerent pounds. They have not agreed, it 
is said, whether it is to be regarded as a matter of right, or matter of gratuity, or bounty. 
Is there weight in thisobjeciion ? If some think the grant ought to be made, as an exer- 
cise of judicious and well deserved bounty, does it weaken that ground that other'^ think 
it founded in strict right, and tiiat we cannot refuse it without manifest and palpable in- 
justice ? Or, is it strange, that those who feel the legal justice of the claim, should ad- 
dress to those who do not feel it, considerations of a different character, but fit to have 
weight, and which they hope may have weight 7 Nothing is more plain and natural 
than the course which this application has taken. The applicants, themselves, have 
placed it on the ground of equity and law. They advert to the resolve of 17.-0, to the 
commutation of 17H3, and to the mode of funding the certificates. 'J hey stand on iheir 
contract. This is perfectly natural. On that basis they can wield the argumeiit them- 
selves. Of what is required by justice and equitv, they may reason even m their own 
case. But when the application is placed on different grounds; when personal merit 
is to be urged, as the foundation of a just and economical bounty ; when services are 
to be mentioned ; privations recounted ; pains enumerated; and wounds and scars 
counted; the discussion necessarily devolves toother hands. In all that we have 
seen from these oflTicers in the various papers presented by them, it cannot but be ob- 
vious to every one, how little is said of personal merit, and how exclusively they cou- 
■fine themselves tovvhat they think their rights under the contract. 

'I must confess, sir, that principles of equity, which apjuar to me as plain as the 
eun, are urged bv the memoiialisis themselves with great canlion, and much qualiti- 
.cation. Thev advance their claim of right, witliout extravagance or overstraining; 
and they subinit it to the uiiimpassioned sense of justice of the Senate. 

' For myself, I am free to sav, tliat if it wen- a case between individual and individ- 
ual, I think the officers would be entitled to relief in a court of ecitiitv. I may be mis- 
taken, but such is mv opinion. My reasons are, that I do not think they had a fair 
Wlion, in regard to the cominulation of half-pay. I do not think it was lairly in their 
power to accept or reject that ofh'r. The condition they were in, and the sitnalion of 
■the coiADtry, compelled them to submit to whatevc r was proposed. In the next place 
it seems lo me too evident to be denied, that the five years' full pav was never really 
and fully made to them. A formal compliance with the terms of the contract, not a 
real cotopliance, is at most all that was ever done. For these reasons, I think, in an 
individual case, law and iKiuity would reform the settlement. The conscience of chan- 
cery would deal with this case as with other cases of hard bargains ; of advantages 
obtaineijl by, means of inetiuality of situation ; of acknowlcdgea debts, compounded 
Croni accesbity, or compromised without satisfaction. But, although such would be 



t 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 43 

my views of this claim, as between man and man, I do not place my vote for this bill 
on that ground. 1 see the consequence of admitting the claim, on tiie foundation of 
sirict right. 1 see, ai once, that, on that ground, the heirs of the dead would claim, as 
well as the living ; and that other public creditors, as well as these holders of commu- 
tation certificates, would also have whereof to complain. I know it is altogether im- 
ossible to open the accounts of the revolution, and to think of doing ju.siice to everv 
ody. Much of suffering there necessarily was, that can never be paid for; mucfi 
of loss that can never be repaired. 1 do not, therefore, for myself, rest my vote on 
grounds leading to any such consequences. I feel constrained to say, that we cannot 
no, and ought not to think of doing, every thing in regard to revolutionary debits, 
which might be strictly right, if the w'holc settlement were now to beguneover anew. 
The honorable member from Xew York [Mr. Van Burcn,] has stated, what I think 
the true ground of the bill. I regard it as an act of discreet and careful bounty, drawn 
forth by meritorious services, and by personal necessities. I cannot argue, in this cast, 
with the technicality of my profession; and because I do not feel able to allow tlie 
claim on the ground of mere right, 1 am not willing, for that reason, to nonsuit the pe- 
titioners, as not having made out their case. Suppose we admit, as I do, that on 
the ground of mere right, it would not be safe to allow it ; or, suppose that to be ad- 
mitted for which others contend, that there is in the case no strict right upon which, 
under any circumstances, the claim could stand ; still, it does not follow thai there i^i 
no reasonable and proper foundation for it, or that it ought not to be granted. If it 
be not founded on strict right, it is not to be regarded as being, for that reason alone, 
an undeserved gratuity, or the etliision of mere good will. If that which is granted 
be not always granted on the ground of absolute right, it does not follow tliat it is 
granted from merely an arbitrary preference, or capricious beneficence. In most cases 
of this sort, mi.xed considerations prevail, and ought to prevail. Some consideration 
is due to the claim of right ; much to that of merit and service ; and more to that of 
personal necessity. If 1 knew that all the persons to be benefited by this hill were 
m circumstances of comfort andconipetency, I should not support it. But this I know 
to be otherwise. I cannot dwell with propriety or delicacy, on this part of the case : 
but I feel its force, and I yield to it. A single instance of atHuence, or a few cases 
where want does not tread closeon those wlio are themselves treading close on the 
borders of the grave, does riot affect the general propriety and necessity of the meas- 
ure. I would not draw this reason for the bill into too much proininence. We all 
know it e.\ists; and we may, I think, safely act upon it, without so di.'icussing it as to 
wound, in old, but sensitive, and still throbbing bosoms, feelings which education in- 
spired, the habits of military life cherished, and a just self-respect is still desirous to 
entertain. I confess I meet this claim, not only with a desire to do something in fa- 
vor of these officers, but to do it in a manner indicative not only of decorum but of 
deep respect, — that respect which years, age, public service, patriotism, and broken for- 
tune, coiiiinand to spring up in every manly breast. 

'It is, then, sir, a mixed claim of faith and public gratitude; of justice and honora- 
ble bounty; of merit and benevolence. It stands on the same fouiKlation as that 
grant, which no one regrets, of which all are proud, made to the illustrious foreigner, 
who showed himself so early, and has proved himself so constantly, and zealously, a 
friend to our country. 

'But then, again, it is objected, that the militia have a claim upon us; that they 
fought at the side of the regular soldiers, and ou"ht to share in the country's remem- 
brance. It is known to be impossible, to carry tlic measure to such an e.Ment as to 
embrace the militia; and it is plain, too, that the cases are different. The bill, as I 
have already said, confines itself to those who served not occasionally, not tempora- 
rily, but permanently ; who allowe<l themselves to be counted on as men who were to 
see the contest through, last as long as it might; and who have made the phrase of 
" listing during the war," a proverbial expression, signifying unalterable devotion to 
our cause, through good fortune and ill fortune, till it reaches its close. This is a plain 
distinction ; and although perhaps I might wish to do more, I see good ground to stop 
here, for the jiresent, if we must stop any where. The mihtia who fought at Coti- 
cord, at Lexington, and at Bunker's Hill, have been alluded to, in the course of this 
debate, in terms of well-deserved praise. Be assured, sir, there could with difficulty 
be fotind a man, who drew his sword, or carried liis musket, at Concord, at Lexing- 
ton, or Bunker's Hill, who would wish you to rejrct this bill. They might ask you to 
do more ; hut never to refrain from doing this. Would to God they were assembled 
here, and had the fate of the bill in their own hands ! Would to God, the question of 
its passage was to be put to them ! They would affirm it, with a unity of acclamation 
that would rend the roof of the capitol. 

'I support the measure, then, Mr. President, because I think it a proper and judicious 
exercise of well-merited national bounty. I think, too, the general sentiment of ray 



44 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

own constituents, and of the country, ia in favor of it. I believe the rnember from 
North CaroUna, himself, admitted, that an increasing desire, that something should be 
done for the revolutionary oflTicers, manifested itself in the community. The bill will 
make no immediate or great draught on the treasury. It will not derange the finan- 
ces. If I had supposed that the state of the treasury would have been urged against 
the passage of this bill, I should not have voted for the Delaware break-water, be- 
cause that might have been commenced next year; nor for the whole of the sums 
which have been granted for fortifications ; for their advancement, with a little more 
or little less of rapidity, is not of the first necessity. But the present case is urgent. 
What we do, should be done quickly. 

' Mr. President, allow me to repeat, that neither the subject, nor the occasion, is an 
ordinary one. Our own fellow-citizens do not so consider it; the world will not so 
regard it. A few deserving soldiers are before us, who served their country faithfully 
through a seven years' war. That was a civil w ar. It was commenced on principle, 
and sustained bv every sacrifice, on the great ground of civil liberty. They fought 
bravelv and bled freely. The cause succeeded and the country triumphed. But the 
condition of things di(l not allow that country, sensible as it was to their services and 
merits, to <'o them the full justice whicli it desired. It could not entirely fulfil its en- 
gagements. The army was to be disbanded ; but it was unpaid. It wfLS to lay down 
its own power; but there was no government with adequate power to ptrlbrm what 
had been promised to it. In this critical moment, what is its conduct ? Does it dis- 
grace its high character? Is temptation able to seduce it ? Does it speak of righting 
itself? Does it undertake to redress its own wrong.s by its own sword? Does it 
io.'^e its patriotism in its deep sense of injury and injustice? Does military ambition 
cause its integrity to swerve? Far, far, otherwise. 

' It had faithfully .sers'ed and saved the country ; and to that country it now referred, 
wiih unhesitating confidence, its claim and it.'- complaints. It laid down its arms 
with alacrity ; it mingled itself with the mass of the community ; and it waited till, ui 
l.'etter times, and under a new government, its services might be rewarded, and the 
l)romif:es made to it fulfilled. Sir, this example is worth more, far more, to the cause 
of civil liberty, than this bill will cost us. We can hardly recur to it too often, or dwell 
on it ton much, for the honor of our country, and of its defenders. Allow me to say 
again, ihnt meritorious service in civil war is worthy of peculiar consideration; not 
oiily because there is, in such war, usually less power to restrain irregularities, but be- 
cause, also, they expose all prominent actors in them to diflereni kinds of danger. It 
h rebellion as well as war. Those who engage in it must look not only to the dangers 
of the field, but to confiscation also and attainder and ignominious death. With no 
efticient and settled government, either to sustain or to control them, and with every 
sort of danger before them, it is great merit to have conducted with fidelity to the 
country, under every discouragement on the one hand, and with unconquerable bravery 
towards ihe common enemy on the other. So, sir, the officers and soldiers of the 
revolutionary army did conduct. 

' I would not, and do not underrate the services or the sufferings of others. I know 
well, that in the revolutionary contest, all made sacrifices, juid all endured sufferings; 
as well thope who paid for service, as those who performed it. I know, that, in the re- 
cords of all the little municipalities of New England, abundant proof exists of the zeal 
wiih wliich the cause was espoused, and the sacrifices with which it was cheerfully 
maintained. I have often there read, with absolute astonishment, the taxes, the con- 
irihiitions, the heavy subscriptions, often provided for by disposing of the absolute 
necessaries of life; by which enlistments were procured, and food and clothing fur- 
nished. It would lie, sir, to these same municipalities, to these same little patriotic 
councils of revolutionary times, that I should now look, with most assured confi- 
dence, for a hearty support of what this bill proposes. There, the scale of revolution- 
ary' merit stands high. There are still those living, who speak of the 19th of April, 
and the 17th of June, without thinking it necessary to add tl.i year. The.se men, one 
and all, would rejoice to find that those who stood by the country bravelj, through 
the doubtful and perilous strupglc which conducted it to independence and glory, had 
not been fi rgotten in the decline and close of life. 

'The objects, then, sir, of the proposetl bounty, are most worthy and deserving ob- 
jects. The services which they rendered, were in the highest degree useful and impor- 
tant. The country to which they rendered them, is great and prosperous. They have 
lived to see it glorious ; let them not live to see it unkind. For me, I can give them 
bul mv vote, and my prayers; and I give them both with my whole heart.' 

In May, 1828, a tariffbill was brought liefore the Senate of the ITnited Slates, and 
Mr. Webster found himself under the necessity of giving some reasons for the vote he 
was about to give on the occasion, as it might seem not to be in accordance with the 
vote on the tariff in I82'l. At that time, Mr. Webster represented a commercial dis- 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 45 

trict. and a large majority of his constituents were opposed to the restrictions on trade 
which ihat billcontained. He urt;cd every argument in iiis power aijainst it. but it 
was passed. At that period, he declared that if the bill did pass, there would be no 
ahernative for New Ens(land, but to consider the course and policy of the (iovern- 
ment as settled and fixed, and to act accordingly. The law did pass, and millions of 
dollars were invested in manufactures from necessity. The niercliants cajne to this 
reluctantly, but when (jnce engaged in manufacturing, this became as dear an interest 
as the mercantile, and they were as anxious to prolict it. He conceived thai if the 
system must be pursued, and this seemed determinLd upon by a majority of votes 
in Congress, he thought that those driven into it by the acts of ISiG and 1S24, should 
have some protection, such as they deemed necessary, particularly those who had 
gone into the manufacture of woollens, on which, as a new business, the strictest 
calculations could not be made. Wr. Webster weighed the subject thoroughly, and 
took his course with its responsibility. It cannot bu denied but that some of his for- 
mer friends, who had still confined themselves entirely to commerce, were, for a sea- 
son, disaffected towards him; not olfended, but hurl; not inimical, but cool. This 
was the most tryms situation he had ever been placed in, for among the merchants 
opposed to the tariff^ might be numbered some of his earliest and best friends. This, 
he regretted ; butbein" cousciuiis uf hfiving done right, he kept on, witlioul suf}t>ring 
himself to be disturbed at any thing said upon the subject ; and he knew also his con- 
stituents, that they were that class of men who would correct their impressions, when 
all his reasons for voting as he did were fidly understood by them. In this excitement 
he returned to Boston : a sight of their favorite was enough to restore all things 
with this people; and those who were delighted, and those who had couii'laintd, 
united, to give him a dinner, as a mark of their high estimation of his integrity and 
independence. This was, of course, accepted; and he met them and pave ihiui a 
speech explanatory of his conduct. They were satisfied, and his popularity reniainul 
undiininisned. This dinner must have been peculiarly acceptable to Mr. VN'ebster, as 
it was another proof that his constituents were intelligent and magnanimous; and 
governed (if now and then touched by that caprice, so conunon in free communities) 
by higli and proper principles. Envy thought she had found a want of consistenc'y 
in this statesman, and seized the circumstances of the tariff to diminish his influence 
in the nation; but this expression of confidence, connected with the treatment he 
has met with in Massachusetts ever since, answered and refuted those who had clam- 
ored, and vainly hoped to prostrate him every where, by showing that he had become 
powerless in the house of his friends. Such cirumstances try men's depth, Creadth, 
and weight of character. Under such charges of inconsistency, a little man sinks, 
for he 's generally so entirely ' frightened from his propriety,' that, in the endeavor to 
exculpate himself, he falls into greater difficulties. Mr. Webster stated the reasons 
for what he had ilone; a reason all had a right to ask, but he made no apologies, he 
'lad no i)alliation to offer. There were his acts; there were his speecht-s : judge for 
,'ourselyes was the appeal, and to such a body it was all thai was required. Mr. 
tf ayne, in his speech on Mr. Poote's resolution, indirectly revived the eliargf ; hear 
Mr. W'ebster's answer to that insinuation. 

'As well as I recollect the course of his remarks, the honorable gentleman next 
recurred to the subject of the tariff'. He did not doubt the word must be of unpleas- 
ant .sound to me, and proceeded with an effort, neither new, nor attended with nevs' 
success, to involve me and iny votes in inconsistency and contradiction. I am happy 
the honorable gentleman has furnished me an opportunity of a timely remark or two 
on that subject. I was glad he approached it, for it is a question I enter upon without 
fear from any body. The strenuous toil of the gentleman has been to raise an incon- 
sistency, between my dissent to the tariff' in 1S24, and my vote in 1S23. It is labor 
lost. He pays undeserved compliment to my speech in 1824; but this is to raise me 
high, that my fall, as he would have it, in 1623, may be more signal. Sir, there was 
no fall at all. Between the ground I stood on in 1S24, and that I took in 1S2S, there 
was not only no precipice, but no declivity. It was a criange of iMisition tomeet'new 
cirt:umstances, but on the same level. .\ plain tale explains the wliole matter. In 
1^!16, I had not acquiesceri in the tariff, then supported by South Carolina. To some 
parts of it, especially, I felt and expressed great repngnnnce. I held the same opin- 
ions in 1S21, at the meeting in Fam-uil Hall, to which the gentleman has alluded. I 
snid then, and say now, that, as an original question, the authority of ( 'ongress ut 
exercise the revenue power, with direct reference to the prt)tection of mnnnfaemre^, 
is a questionable authority, far more questionable, in mv judgment, rhau the pow. r of 
internal nnprovements. I must confess, sir. that, in one respect, sonie impression has 
been made on my oriinious lately. Mr. Madison's pub!icatii)n has put the power in a 
very strong light. He has placed it, I must acknowledge, upon gr'iunds of eonstrue- 
tion and argument, which seem impregnable. But even il" the powe: were doubtful, 



I 



46 LIFE OF DANIF.L WEBSTER. 

on the face of the constitution itself, it had been assumed and assorted in the first 
revenue law ever passed under that same constitution; and, on this ground, as a 
matter settled by cotemporaneous practice, I had refrained from expressing the opinion 
that the tariff laws transcended constitutional limits, as the gentleman supposes. 
What I did say at Fancuil Hall, as far as I now remember, was, that this was origi- 
nally matter of doubtful construction. The j;entlcman himself, I suppose, thniks 
there is no doubt about it, and that the laws are plainly against the constitution. JMr. 
Madison's letters, already referred to, contain, in my judgment, by far the most able 
exposition extant of this part of the constitution. He has satisfied me, so far as the 
practiceof the government had left it an open questiot!. 

'With a great majority of the Representatives of Massachusetts, I voted agam.st 
the tariff of 1824. My reasons were then given, and 1 will not now repeat them. But. 
notwithstanding our di.ssent, the great States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, siud 
Kentucky, went for the bill, in almost unbroken column, and it passed. (Jongn .<s 
and the President sanctioned it, and it became the law of the land. What, then, 
were we to do 7 Our only option was, either to fall in with this settled course ol pub- 
lic policy, and accommodate ourselves to it as well as we could, or to embrace the 
South Carolina doctrine, and talk of nullifying the statute by State interference. 

' This last alternative did not suit our principles, and, of course, we adopted the 
fortner. In 1827, the subject came again before Congress, on a proposition favorable 
to woo! and woollens. We looked upon the system of protection as being fixed and 
Fettled. The law of 1824 remained. It had gone into full operation, and in regard to 
some objects intended by it, perhaps most of them, had produced all its expected effects. 
No man proposed to repeal it ; no man attempted to renew the general contest on its 
principle. But, owing to subseijuent and unforeseen occurrences, tiie benefit mteiided 
by it to wool and woollen fabrics had not been realized. Events, not known here 
when the law passed, had taken place, which defeated its object in that particular 
respect. A ipeasure was accordingly brought forward to meet this precise deficiency, 
to reiof-dy this particular defect. It was limited to wool and woollens. Was ever any 
thine more reasonable? If the policy of the tariff laws had become established m 
principle, as the permanent policy of the government, should they not be revised and 
amended, and made equal, like other laws, as exigencies should arise, or justice rc- 
<]nire? Because we had doubted about adopting the system, were we to refuse to 
cure its manifest defects, after it became adopted, and when no one attempted its re- 
peal'' And this, sir, is the inconsistency so much bruited. I had voted against tne 
tarifl'of 18-24— but it passed ; and in 1827 and 1828, I voted to amend it, in a point es- 
6Piiii:il to the interest of my constituents. Where is the inconsistency ? Could I do 
otherwise 7 Sir, does political consistency consist in always giving negative votes '.' 
Does it require of a public man to refuse to concur in amending laws, because th(y 
passed against his consent 7 Havhig voted against the tariff originally, dcies coii.«is- 
ti-ncy demand that I should do all in my power to maintain an unequal tarifl, burden- 
sonie to my own constituents, in many respecis, favorable in nont'7 To consisiemv 
orthat'sort, 1 lav no claim.— And there is another sort to which I lay as link— and 
iliat is, a kind of consistencv by which persons feel themselves as much bound to 
oppose a proposition after it has become a law of the land as before. a- c 

'The bill of 1827, limited, as I have said, to the single object in which the tnritl ol 
1824 had manifestly failed in its effect, passed the House of Representatives, but u^is 
lost here. We had then the act of 1S28. I need not recur to the history of a measure 
so recent. Its enemies spiced it with whatsoever they thought would render it dis- 
tasteful ; its friends took it, drugged as it was. Vast amounts of properly, inanv 
millions, had been invested in manufactures, under the inducements o) the act ol 
1S2(. Events called loudlv, as I thought, for further regulation to secure the degree 
of protcgiion intended by that act. I was disposed to vote for such regulation, and 
desired nothing more; but certainly was not to be bantered out of my purpose iiy a 
threatened augmentation of dutv on molasses, put into the bill for the avowed pur- 
pose of making it obnoxious. The vote may have been right or wrong, wise or un- 
wise ; but it is little l(^^s than absurd to allege against it an inconsistency with oppo- 
sition to the former law. 

' Sir, as to the general subiect of the tariff, I have little now to soy. Another op- 
portunity may be presented. 1 remarked tlie other dav, that this policy did not begin 
with us in New England ; and yet, sir, New England is charged, with vehemence, 
a.'^ being favorable, or charged with equal vehemence, as being unfavorable to the 
tariff pidicy, jest as best suits the lime, place, and occasion for making some charge 
against her. The credulity of the publu; has been put to its extreme eapncitv of fals^e 
impression, relative to her conduct, in this tmriicular. Through ail the South, during 
the late contest, it was New England policy, and a New England Rdmimstration, 
that waB afflicting the country with a tariff beyond all endurance ; while on the oiie r 



l.IFi; OF DAMEL WEBSTUH. 47 

side of the Allegany, even the aet of 162S itself, the very sublimated essence of oppres- 
sion, acconJirig to southern opmioiis, was pronounced to be one of those blessings, for 
which the West was indebted to tiie "geiierous South." 

'With large investnients in inarmftR-turiiig esiaiihslinients, and many and various 
interests connected vvith and dci.ciidcnt on th< ni, it is not to he expected that New 
England, any more th.in other jiurlions of the country, will now consent to any 
measure, destructive or highly dangtrous. The duty of the government, at the pres- 
ent moment, would seem to be to preserve, not to de'siroy : to maintain the position 
which it has assumeil ; and, for one, I shall feel it an indispensable obligation to hold 
it steady, as faj as in my power, lo that degree of protection which it lias undertaken 
to bestow. — No more of the laritt".' 

A slight, accidental cireiimsiance in the life of BIr. Webster, will show how neces- 
sary it is for a statesman to be thuroiighly acquainted with the whole history of his 
country to the gri^atest minutenes.s. In the summer of 182S, Mr. Webster visited t!>e 
i-land of Nantucket, upon professional business, but was so much struck with the 
people and their place of residence, that he took pains to get all tlie information about 
the place and inhaiiitants he could readily find. Heexaiinned the island, apparently 
only a moimd of sand, to the amount of twenty-three or four thousand acres, without 
forests, or even a grove to he seen ; and only a few single trees which seemed to have 
been planted in doubt, and watched by care, without much faith in their growth. 
Yet, on this sfi-'iiiingly barren island, he ascertaiiRd that there were fifteen thousand 
sheep, three or tour hundred cows, and one hundred and fifty horses, that wandered 
where they pleas'-d, from one end to the other of this great pasture, summer and win- 
ter, spring and fall, and all thrived on the scantvgrass which sprang up above the sand. 

Tiu; inhabitants of this island he found a shrewd, intelligent people, amounting to 
nearlyeight thousand souls, bearing all the strong marks of the primitive simplicity 
of their ancestors; and unlilie. in many respects, any other maritime people that 
history has made us acquainted vvith. The island was settled in 16");) by emigrations 
from the towns of Saiisburv and Amesbury, in the county of Essex, in Massachu.setts. 
I\Iany of those settlers who came to the island the second or third years after the 
Iiroijrietors (twenty-seven in numher) had taken possession of tiie island, had fled 
from those towns from fear of the emissaries of Charles the Second, who pursued liie 
friends and adherents of Hugh Petcr.s with unrelenting sevcritv, many of whom had 
come to Salisbury for security, but thiiught it wiser to take a less noted place. The 
islaiid had been the favorite abodeof a very large tribe of Indians, whicli had been 
carried off by a sweeping sickness that preceded the coming of the pilgrims. The 
English emigrants, unfortunately, in thoir hatred to a wilderness, felli d the forest 
trees in order to e.vtend their crops of English grain and Indian corn ; but this act of 
elearinr all smoothly, in the ecmrse of half a century, destroyed the island fur tillage; 
f jr, in the long storms, the sand was blown across tlie island, and the arable soil was 
so deeply covered with those dancing atoms, that agriculiural pursuits were nearb' 
abandoned, and the inhabitants looked to the ocean for their suiiport. At the clo.-e 
of the seventeenth, or at the (■onimencemenl of the eighteenth century, these island- 
ers began the whale fishery, which had been carried on ;it Cape Cod for some time 
b''fore. This was done in boats of a shape that has given tlie name to a class of 
boars now used f()r despatch, called ' whale boats.' The wli;i!es became scarce along 
the shore, and larger boats were bnill to pursue them both north and south. In the 
wars the English and their colonies had with F'rance, these islanders were exposed, 
and their business interrupted by privateers ; in fact, they wen; often annoyed by the 
bucaniers in a previous age; bui, notwithstandi,ig every difficulty, the war of our 
revolution found them rich and flourishing. 

At this time, K/'i, thiy had reached the coast of Brazil, and were successful in ta- 
king whales there. In 17'.U, they dmiblt.-d Cape Horn, and pursued the sperm whaio 
into the Pacific, near tlie equator, many years with success. Within ten vears past, 
finding their prey diminishing in numbers on their old cruising ground, and governed 
a little by that spirit of adventure, for which they not only acquired a reputation, but 
great wealth, pushed westward and circumnavigated the globe, in the ordinary course 
of their bu.siness. Mr. Webster was delighted with the government and economy of 
a whale ship; powers, duties, profits, honors, all properly apportioned, and yet admi- 
rably conjoined and brought to act with great energy and efFeet. If one of their 
whale ships docs not bear the majesty of national strength and glory aronnii the 
globe, it shows to every nation in every sea, what intelligence, cntenirise, industry 
and perseverance can effect. The people abroad and the people at home are one. No 
men are more fond of home than these voyagers; they come back to their steril sands 
as to an Eden, for there they left all ihey held dear to iheir hearts; it is the sweet 
Argos from whence they sailed for the golden fleece; and they obtained it without 
robbuig any of theLr fellow men. 



48 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

The people of Nantucket are intelligent; for these whale ships, for nearly half the 
time while on their voyage are, in truth, Lyceums, where mathematics and natural 
history and general knowledge are taught. The log-books and journals of these 
whalers are well kept; the hand-writing in these books is good, and the reckonings 
admirably made, and every one does something towards making a minute history of 
the voyage. 

On the island of Nantucket, he met with a philosopher, mathematician, and an as- 
tronomer, in Walter Folger, worthy to be ranked among the great riiscoyerers in 
science. His ancestors, for a long line, on the island, have been distinguished for 
their knowledge of mathematics. Folger has invented a telescope, second only to 
Herschell's in power. This visit took deep hold on the feelings of Mr. Webster; it 
made a new item in his historical treasures. 

Not long after this tour to Nantucket, the people of that island petitioned Congress 
for a break-water, or rather for an appropriation for a survey of the island and the 
waters washing it ; which at length settled into an appropriation for deepening the 
channel to the principal harbor of this island. For ages, all the large vessels had to 
unload wholly or principally before they could be brought to the wharves. This prob- 
ably would not nave been brought about, if the information which Mr. W^ebster had 
obtained on his visit, had not in his forcible manner been concentrated and given to 
the Senate. To them, it was as novel as an Arabian tale; and as they knew he 
never spoke without day and date, words and figures, for proof, it satisfied all ; the ap- 
propriation was voted for, and the work is going on with success. 

It is the duty of all statesmen to make themselves acquainted not only with the 
general interests of the community in which they live ; but also of the particular in- 
terests of each section of it, in order that they may assist when they should, nnd how 
they should. It happens not to a few of them, as Caius Marius alleged that it did to 
the Patrician generals of the Roman army: they first procured the command of ar- 
mies, and then began to study the art of war. It has not been so with Mr. Web- 
ster ; he has studied not only every general interest and principle, but every niirnite 
relation and bearing of those interests in the nation ; and hence he has made himself 
a statesman worthy of the country ; no lines, either of Mason, Dixon, or Boone, ever 
bounded his course of duties. He reasons for the country, and watches for the inte- 
rests of each and all; for the raftsmen of the Penobscot, or for the boatmen of the 
Mississippi; for the merchant of the sea-board, or the manufacturer of the interior; 
nor has he yet ever given to party those mental energies, which were meant for niaa- 
kind. He can say, with justice and truth, what Mirabeau said of himself; 'I have 
been, I am, I will be to my grave, the man of public liberty, the man of the constitu- 
tion,' which extends to all, deals equal favor to all, protects all, and cannot be infringed 
without injuring all. 

The intelligent mechanics of Boston having formed an association, called the Boston 
Mechanic's Institution^ applied to Mr. Webster to give them a lecture at the opening 
of the course in November, 1828. It m.ight be thought by some statesmen, and per- 
haps by some scientific men, that Mr. Webster's course of education had not prepared 
him for such a task; but it must be remembered, that he is a lawyer of more than 
twenty years' standing at the bar, and all thif. time has been in extensive practice in 
the highest courts of the country, in which not uuly constitutional questions are dis- 
cussed, but mercantile transactions, and questions requiring broad views of almost 
every subject; and none requiring more information tlinn .«ome of those impoitant 
trials upon patent rights. The lawyer, to do his duty to his client, must be acquainted 
with the principles of the mechanic arts, and sometimes also with the most minute 
details of them. Mr. Webster has been ens?aged in many of these patent causes, and 
to do his duty has made himself master of the laws of motion and the properties of 
matter far more accurately than any general reading would havetlone, for he has had 
often to consult with the inventer, perhaps enter (he workshop and sec every operation 
performed, in order to be able to explain tfiese things to courts omd juries who pass 
upon then.. Mr. Webster was pleased to find such an institution springing up in his 
own city, and was willing to lend his aid for its success. These institutions, he was 
well aware^ refine the taste and strengthen the intellectual powers of each member of 
the fraternity. They are stimulants to exertion, for each one is unwilling to be thought 
inferior to his neighbor, and he studies to be hia equal, at least, and wisely thinks the 
ambition harmless, if he strive for th.e mastery in intellectual pursuits. Mind broucht 
in amicable collision with mind produces scintillations of thought that do not expire 
as they arc struck out, but increase to a permanent light. In most intellects there are 
seeds of true taste, and frequently of creative or imitative genius. Warmed by honest 
emulation and spurred on by generous rivalry, the younger portions of such associa- 
tions make great exertions to obtain knowledge, and when encouraged by their senior.n 
are ready to communicate if. Already in some other parts of our country mechanic 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 49 

associations have grown into inoclianic institutes, in which lectures are given on vari- 
ous brandies of the arts and sciences. When a |ir;ictical anist beconies scientific, lie 
will soon find janguage to convey his thoughts, if he finds it diflicult at first to get 
words to suit him. When these institutes are once established they seldom retrogratle; 
there is an honest pride in such bodies, that will not suffer them to fall oflm their exer- 
tions. He who feels the jiride of being an instructer, will always be an indefatigable 
student himself. Youthful aspirants for the lecturer's chair occasionally will come 
torward in order to disiiiigui:<h themselves. By this, the arts will be benefited, and 
iiUorniatioii diffused among those who arc not artists. If eloquence of a high order ia 
not to be obtained in a lecture room, good plain speaking may be, and this is more 
valuable. Readiness and fluency follow clearness of perception, and that order and 
method necessary in conveying our thoughts on the laws of motion and power. The 
time, we trust, is not far distant when we shall see the young citizen pass from the 
workshop to the lecnire-rooni as a matter of course in his education ; and when the 
art and mystery of a trade will be taught him with the principles on which it is founded. 
It will not be questioned, that, if sucli institutes were generally forme:!, their infliienc* 
would be generally felt in a moral point of view. Many hours that are now spent by the 
young mechanic in light amusements, by way of preparing himself for arduous labors, 
would be devoted to science, or to letters, so necessarily connected with it. Thus time 
would besaved; money would be saved ; and sonieti!iies,perhaps, reputation would be 
saved; and most certainly, moral and mtelleciiial weight would be gained ; and weight 
of character is not gained maday ; it is made upTjy the honest occupation of many years 
in youth and iiianliood, and can be preserved only by the sound exercise of the under- 
standing. This lecture should be preserved as a modt>l for compositions of this kind ; 
not that many would reach the same standard, but the imitation would l<e well. The 
model should be far above what we expect to reach. The language is just such.iis it 
should be on such a subject, and the style of the composition precisely what Bacon, 
would have used had he lived to have been, with his great genius, imbued wiih modern 
taste. Thereis no insinuating introduction, no appeal to the candor of his hearers, and 
all that unmeaning parade f)f courtesy ; but after a sentence or two, he enters directly 
into his subject, and brings forward his topics without ceremony. He discusses motion 
as applir'd to change of place, to animal life, the earth, the ocean, the air, to all the 
physical objects which surround us, and is the exhaustless fountain from whence phi- 
losophy is drawn. He proceeds to the grand distinction of man. Ins intellectual pow- 
ers, and shows that his information was fitted to his mind, for if he had not that 
wonderiul instrument the hand, he could not avail himself of his gifts ; and that the 
brute creation, if raised to the ^ quality of reasoning man, could do but little without 
such an instrument to assist them. He adverted to the ancients, and compared tlieir 
knoNvledge with that of modern limes. The descriptive history and effects of the me- 
chanical powers and arts were his next topic, and in this he was most liappy. 'I'he 
useful subject, architecture, came also under his consideration, and he pursued it in 
all Its forms ; but leaving all other pans of this fine lecture, we extract that which 
relates to the mechanical arts. 

'In the useful and practical aris, many inventions and contrivances, to the produc- 
tion of which the degree of ancient knowledge would appear to us to have been ade- 
quate, and which seem quite obvious, are yet of late origin. The application of water, 
for example, to turn a mill, is a thing not known to have been accomplished at all in 
Greece, and is not supposed to have been attempted at Rome, till in or near the age 
of Augustus. The production of the same eflect by wind, is a still later invention. 
It dates only in the seventh century of our era. The propulsion of the sasv, by 
any other power than that of the arm, is treated as a novelty in England, so late 
as in the middle of the sixteenth century. The Bishop of Ely, Ambassador from 
the Queen of England to the Pope, says, '''he saw, at Lyons, a saw-mi!l driven with 
an upright wheel, and the water that makes it go is gathered into a narrow trough, 
which delivereth the same water to the wheels. This wheel hath a piece of timber 
put to the axletree end, like the handle of a hmrk, (a hand organ.) and fastened 
to the end of thesayv, which being turned with the force of water, hoisteth up and 
down the saw, that it coniinually eateth in, and the handle of the same is kept in a 
rigall of wood, from severing. Also the timber lieth, as it were upon a ladder, which is 
brought by little and little to the saw by another vice." From this description of the 
primitive power-saw, it would seem that it was probably fast only at one end, and 
that the brock and rigall performed the part of the arm,' in the common use of the 
hand -saw. 

'It must always have been a very considerable object for men to possess, or obtain, 
x\\>- power of raising. water, otherwise than by mere manual labor. Yet nothing like 
the common suction-pump has been found among rude nations. It has arrived at its 
present state only by slow and doubtful steps of unprovement ; and, indeed, in that 



50 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

present statr, however obvious and unattractive, it is something of an abstruse and 
refined invention. Il was unknown in China, until Europeans visited the "Celestial 
Kmpire;" and is still unknown in other parts of Asia, beyond the pale of European 
settlements, or the reach of European communication. The Greeks and Romans are 
supposed to have been ignorant of it, in the early limes of their history ; and it is 
usually said to have come from Alexandiia, where physical science was much cultivated 
by the Greek school, under the patronage of the Ptolemies. 

'These few and scattered historical notices, gentlemen, of important inventions, 
have been introduced only for the purpose of suggesting that there is much which is 
both curious and instructive in the history of mechanics ; and that many things which 
to us, in our state of knowledge, seem so obvious as that we should think they would 
at once force themselves on men's adoption; have, nevertheless, been accomphshed 
slowly and by painful efforts. 

'Hut if the history of the progress of the mechanical arts be interesting, still more 
so, doubtless, would be the exhibition of their present state, and a full display of the 

. e.xtent to which they are now carried. This field is much too wide even to be entered, 
on this occasion. The briefest outline even, would exceed its limits ; and the whole 
subject will regularly fall to hands much more able to sustain it. The slightest glance, 
however, must convince us that mechanical power and mechanical skill, as they are 
now exhibited in Europe and America, mark an epoch in human history, worthy of 
all admiration. Machinery is made to perform what has formerly been the toil of hu- 
man hands, to an extent that astonishes the most sanguine, with a degree of power 
to which no number of human arms is equal, and with such precision and exactness 
as almost to suggest the notion of reason and intelligence in the machines themselves. 
Every natural agent is put unrelentingly to the task. The winds work, the waters 
work, the elasticity of metals work : gravity is solicited into a thousand new forms of 

, action: levers are multiplied upon levers : wheels revolve on the periphenes of other 
wlieels ; the saw and the plane are tortured into an accommodation to new uses, and, 
last of all, with inimitable power, and " with whirlwind sound," comes the potent 
agency of steam. In comparison with the past, what centuries of improvement has 
this single agent comprised, in the short compass of fifty years ! Every where practi- 
cable, everywhere eflicicnt, it has an arm a thousand times stronger than that of Her- 
cules, and to which hunian ingenuity is capable of fitting a thousand times as many 
hands as belonged to Briareus. Sieain is found, in triumphant operation, on the seas; 
and under the iiiriueiiceof its strong propulsion, the gallant ship, 

" .\gainst the wind, against the tide 
Still steadies, with an upriglit keel." 

It i.s on the rivers, and the boatman may repose on his oars; k i."; in highways, and 
begins to exert itself along the courses of land conveyance; it is at the bottom of 
mines, a thousand feet below the earth's surface ; il is in the mill, and in the work- 
S'hops of the trades. Il rows, it pumps, it excavates, it carries, it draws, it lifts, it hain- 
niers, it spins, it weaves, it prints. It seems to say to men, at least to the class of arti- 
sans, "Leave ofTyour manual labor, give over your bodily toil; bestow but your skill 
and reason to the directing of my [lower, and I will bear the toil, — with no muscle to grow 
weary, 110 nerve to relax, no breast to feel faintness." Wiiut further improvements 
rnay still be made in the use of this astoni-ijiiiig power, it is impossible to know, and 
it were vain to conjecture. What we do k.i.iw, is, that it has most essentially altered 
the faceof affairs, and that no visible limit yet appears beyond which its progress is 
seen to be imijossible. If its power were now to be annihilated, if we were to miss it 
on the water and in the mills, it would seem as if we were going back to rude ages. 

'This society then, gentlemen, is instituted for the purpose of further and further 
applying science to the arts, at a time when there is much of science to be applied. 
Philosophy and the Mathematics have attained to high degrees, and still stretch their 
wings, like the eagle. Chymistry, at the same time, acting in another direction, has 
made equally important discoveries, capable of a direct application to the purposes 
of life. Here again, within so short a period as the lives of some of us, almost all 
that is known has been learned. And while there is this aggregate of science, al- 
ready vast, but still rapidly increasing, otlering itself to the ingenuity of niechanical 
contrivance, there is a corresponding (iemand for every work and invention of art, — 
nroduced by the wants of a rich, an enterprising and an elegant age. Associations 
like this, therefore, have materials to work upon, ends to work for, and encourage- 
ment to work." 

On his return from VVashingfon in the spring of 1S29, Mr. Webster had the misfor- 
tune to lose his brother, the [ion. Ezekiel Webster, aCounsellof at law in the State of 
JN'ew Hampshire. Ilis death was sudden and remarkable ; he fell and expired while 



LIFE or DANIEL WKBSTER. 51 

in the midst of an argument at the bar, without a si.^'h or a struggle. No event couW 
have been more unexpected by the public, lor he was one ol' those models for a picture 
of health and strength, that Siilvator Rosa would have drawn in his nmuntriin scenery, 
if he had wished to exhibit a commander able to bear the fatjguis and duties of coun- 
cil and of war. He was lamented by his professional brethren, and sincerely niouined 
by the community at large. 

Ezekiel Webster was two or three years older than his brother Daniel, but did not 
graduate until three years after him, in 1804. In college, he was the first in his class; 
his intellect was of a very high order; its capacity was general, for he was able to com- 
prehend the abstmse and difficult, and at the same time to enjoy the tasteful and the 
elegant. He was distmguished for classical literature. His knowledge of (Jreek, 
particularly, was beyond that of his contemporaries in colh-j^e; and this is almost an 
unqualified proof of taste, when the study is pursued IVoni a real fondiuss for the lan- 
guage, and not merely for the pride of learning, or for the rewards of superiority. 

His knowledge of English literature was deip and extensive, lor I'.e had not skim- 
med over books as a matter of amusement, but he looked into them as a n:an of mind, 
who intends to draw- lessons from all he reads. Few men among our scholars knew 
so much of the English poets as he did, and he valued iheni as he should have done, 
as philosophers and painters of human nature, fiom whom riiUch kiicivv ledge may bt; 
obtained to illustrate and adorn what duller minds have put into maxims and rules 

He made himself master of the law as a science, and bw ame well :u quainied with 
its practice in his native State. He went up to first principles wiih the case and (di- 
rectness of a great mind, and separated at once that which was casual and local, 
from that which is permanent and founded on the basis of moral justice and the na- 
tureof man. There seemed no effort in any thing he did ; all was natural and easy, 
as if intuitive. There was nothing about him of that little bustling smartness so 
often seen in ordinary persons, striving to perform something to attract the attenjion 
of the little world around them. 

His general information was not only extensive, but laid up in excellent order, 
ready for use. He was steadily engaged in the duties of his profession, but never seemed 
hurried or confused in his business. He took all calmly and qiiielly. He did nothing 
for parade or show, or mere effect, nor did he speak to the audience while addressing 
the court and jury. His life was passed in habits of industry and perseverance; and 
his accumulations of wealth and knowledge were regular and rapid. From the com- 
mencement of his life as a reasoning being, responsible for his own actions to the 
close of it, he preserved the most perfect consistency of character; no paroxysms of 
passion, no eccentricities of genius, were ever found in him. His equanimity wns 
only equalled by his firmness of purpose. In this he was most conspicuous ; he thought 
leisurely and cautiously, and having made up his mind, he was steadfast and immo- 
vable. Having no hasty or premature thoughts, he .seldom had occasion to cha go 
his opinions, and was, therefore, free from those mortifying repentances, so common 
to superior minds of warmer temperament. Ry honesty of purpose and soundiiesa 
of judgment he kept a just balance in weighing all maifers before him. All this firm- 
ness and equanimity, and other virtues, seemed constitutional, and not made up by 
those exertions so necessary to most frail beings, who intend to support a character 
for steady habits. He was blessed with a frame that felt few or no infirmities, such 
as weaken the nerves and bring down the mighty in intellect to lliose degrading su- 
perstitions that Slain the brightness of genius and destroy the high hopes of immor- 
tal beings, and make them slaves lo darkness and absurdity. Hi; suflered no moral 
or mental weakness in his ^yhole path of duty, for his constitution, until within a 
short time of his death, exhibited a sound mind in a sound body, and neither appeared 
essentially injured or decayed, to the hour ol his exit from llii.s world. 

He never sought public honors, nor literary or political distinctions, and therefore 
had none of those throes and agonies so common to vaulting ambition ; not that he 
declined all public trusts, when he was conscious that he could do any good to his fel- 
low men. He was several years a member of one or other branch of the Legislature 
of New Hampshire, and served as a trustee of Dartmouth College. He was at dif- 
ferent times put up for a member of Congress, but it v. as at periods when his friends 
thought that his name would do some good to his political party, as tin; members of 
Corigress in New Hampshire are chosen by a gtrieral ticket ; but when they were 
decidedly in power, he would seldom or never consent lo be a candidate. This was 
much to be regretted, for he- yvas admirably calculated for public life by his extensive 
knowledge and incorruptible integrity. He would have been a first rate speaker on 
the floor of Congress. His eloquence was impressive and commanding. There was 
in his delivery a slight defect in the labial sounds— in the familiar ufe of his voice, 
which was rather pleasant to the listener than otherwise, for it was a proof of a nat- 
ural manner; but warmed by his subject, a more rich, full, and sonorous voice was 



52 . LIFE or DANIEL WEBSTER. 

seldom heard in any public body; not thai his tones were delicate or rnelliriuous, but 
full of majesty and command, free Irom arrogance, timidity, or hesitation. His fjes- 
tures were graceful, but not in the slightest degree studied ; his languaiie was rich, 
gentlemanly, select, but not painfully chosen ; he not only had words for all occa- 
sions, but the very words he should have used. 

As a writer he e.\celled in judgment and taste : there was a classical elegance in his 
familiar w^ritings ; and his higher compositions were marked with that lucid order and 
clearness of thought and purity of expression,' which distinguished the Augustan age. 
His sentences were not grappled together by hooks of steel, but connected by golden 
hinges, that made a harmonious whole. His library w as rich in works of merit, an- 
cient and modern. The history of literature and science was as familiar to him as 
that ( f his native State, and he had the means of turning to it with much greater 
facility. 

He was an instance in point that a man may he a good lawyer, and yet devote some 
of his time to classical pursuits. 

Ezekiel Webster w as one of those great men, rare instances in the world, who had 
thrown away ambition ; and who preferred to be learned and happy in his course of 
life, rather man to court the gale and spread his sails, to be wafted along on popular 
opinion. He sought .-lOt popularitv, but he had it; that popularity vhich foUoics.nut 
Dial li-hich is run after. He watched the signs of the times, and w as as good a diviner 
in politics as anyone; but whatever the presages were, he looked at coming events 
laiinoved, leaving thtir results to Heaven. 

For several of the last years of his lile, he was curtaiHng his business in order to 
devote some portion of the prime of his manhood to hterary and scientific pursuits, 
so congenial to his heart ; but in this he was disappointed, for yet while in the tul- 
iiess of his strength he was called to leave the world, for whose benefit he was forn,- 
ed. The wavs of Providence are right, however hidden the laws are from us. It is 
to be regretted that one so able should have written so little as he has; probably he 
vas waiting for those hours of leisure, in which he was contemplating to form his 
plan of some literary work. The writer of these remarks,— his classmate and his 
friend,— once suggested to him the history of his native State as a subject for his pen, 
and the thousrht did not seem unpleasant to him. In the boyish davs of the writer, 
he undertook' to translate Anacreon, and carried his productions daily for the correc- 
tions of his friend, whose mature mind gave the translation all the finish it possessed. 
No one he ever knew had a more admirable spirit of criticism than Ezekiel \Vebster, 
united with that generous indulgence which only great minds feel and practice. A 
few months before he died, some symptoms of a disease of the heart were percepti- 
ble, but not alarming to his friends, but he knew the uncertainty of human life, and 
without any specialcommand set his house in order, and made preparation for his 
long journey. There is a beauty in that calm, deep, silent, religious feehng, that noue 
but great and pure minds can ever know. After having put all his worldly afl'airs in- 
to a most perfect train for settlement at his death, and wif'.lung his friends to lie tree 
from all doubts upon his religious impressions and belief be sat down iiiul wrote his 
eentimeiits on this momentous subject, which were found on his table alter his death. 
Tliis was his last composition. How true it i.s, that the enjoyment of health, tiu' ac- 
cumulnting of w^calth, the pursuits of science and the love of letters, and the world's 
aptilaiise, sanctioned by the good man's benison, are not sufficient lor an immortal 
mind. All these (liinus are, in a great measure, connected with fellow mortals, ajid 
are finite in their influences upon the mind, while religion is a connexion with infin- 
iiy,— with Deity,— it enters into eiernitv, haves time and sense to earth, and by the 
bright in.'jpira lions of faith takes thestiiw from Death, and from thc^rarn itsvidoi-y. 
A great mind accu.«toriied to 'long converse with the invisible world,' and seeing 
day after day, his friends falling around him, breathes, as each descends to the tomb, 

'How dri'iiry is this gulf! how dark — how void — 
The trackless shores, thut never were rcp:iss'd ! 
Divrul separation ! on the depth untried, 
Hope falters, and the sonl reeoil.s aghast ! — 

' Wide round the spaciovis heav'ns I cast my eyes ; 
And shall these siiirs glow with iraniniurtal Arc! 

Mill I'liine Uie lifeless (iloriesuf tlie skies! 
And could thy hright, tliy living' soul e.vpire!— 

' Far he the thoti^hl ! The ulpa.s\u-es most sublime, 
The t'low of friendship, nnu the viituons tear, 
'I'lie >o»rint' wish that scorns t!ie Ixuuuls of time, 
Chill'd in till- vale of death, but lanijuisli here.' 



LIFE OP DANIEL WEB.STF.R. l>^ 

The adoption of the Constitution of tlic United States \yas aliiiDsi a nnrac'p of 
itself. It was efii'fted \>y tlio perscvfTance of ilie fiint intcliiijt ncc of tiie land. Tlie 
patriots who reasoned as well as felt, found all their labors would be lost, if some- 
thing towards concentrating the ener.i<ies and giving a uniformity to commercial reg- 
ulations were not effected. The whole matter was a compromise, and but few were 
entirely satisfied. Then- can be no doubt, but that a portion of the commimit/ 
thaui<ht the Constituiion was too feeble to last long, they supposed that its tendency 
would be towards democracy, and that after a while diliiculties would arise, such as 
it would be impossible lo overe()ine. Some believed that it would, from year to year, 
grow more aristocratic, and therefore watched every thing, excitid by tear that all 
would be lost in the power of the few. Between hopes and fears the maehiiie went 
on, lo the wonder and satisfaction of almost every one. The instrument was likened 
to the Anipliictyonie league, and considered as if there were sometliing sacred about 
it. Others said, that it was modelled on the principles of the United i'rovinces ; and 
there was some truth in that. The framers of the old Confederation, no doubt, had 
ihai compact in view when the States, by their delegates, first assembled at Philadel- 
phia ; and there were not a few who wished to find a resemblance in our government 
to that of the Swiss cantons. Whatever each one thought, certairi it is, that there 
were some points of it differently construed by sagacious meYi in rlifierent parts of 
t!i6 country ; but all seemed to wish to give it'a fair experiment. The power of tlie 
judiciary was viewed with Jealousy by the South anri many other parts of the country. 
IVIany portions of our fellow-citizens reposed .so much contideneein the judiciary, that 
they thought all was safe while that branch of thegovcrnnient w-as unas.-ailed. The 
Supreme Court had maintaiui-d a dignilifd course, not courting cases in which consii- 
tutioml questions were involved, but ai'^eting them manfully when tlun' were du'ectly 
brought before them. Tln^ East consid.rcd the embargo an unconsiitiMional act, in- 
asmuch as it annihilated, instead of regulating commerce. This question was freely 
discussed in the legislatures of some of the New Kngland Stati;s; but w;hatevir 
might be their opinions on the subject, it was thought to be most constitutional to 
bring the matter before the Suprcnu> Judicial Court. This was done, and its consti- 
tutionality supported. The people of New England acquiesced. In 18IG, a tariff was 
laid by southern votes. There was no objection made to tlie (.'onstilutionality of the 
law. In 1*24, the Middle and Western States got up another tariti' b II, to a greater 
part of which the East was opposed, and it was not carried by their votes. In 183';, 
this bill was amended by the 3Iiddle States, aided by New England, who had so frir 
changed their business, as to wish for that which they had been opposed lo a short 
time before. The course Mr. Webster look in this ehant^e has been previously men- 
tioned. The South were enraged at this act, and saw ten thousand evils in it, that 
have nol been realized and never will be. In this excit.nient intemperate resolutions 
were promulgated at several meetings in South Carolina; and members of Congress 
in both houses from that State, as well as from some other States, took every oppor- 
tunity to vent their indignation in debate, whether the subject would strictly warrant 
it or not. 

On the 29th of December, 1820, a resolution was introduced into the Senate by 
Mr. Foote, respecting the sale of public lands. The resolution was in ihe following 
words : — 

' Hesolred, That the Committee on Public Lands bo instructed to inquire arid re- 
port the quantity of public lands remaining unsold within each State and Territory; 
and whether it be e.\|)edient to limit, for a cerlain period, the sales of the [jublic lands 
to such lands only as have been heretofore offered for sale, and are now subject to 
entry at the miniuium price. And, also, whether t!ie otlire of Surveyor-General, and 
some of the land offices may not be abolished without detriment to the public inter- 
ests ; or wheiher it be expedient to adopt measures to hasten the sales and extend 
more rapidly the surveys of the public lands.' 

On the 18th of January, Mr. Benton, of Missouri, addressed the Senate upon the 
subject, and tocjk a wide latitude in debate. On the I'.lth, Mr. Hayne proceeded in the 
debate, and adopted all the strange doctrines which Mr. Benton had .avowed. H(! 
travelled widely out of the true course of the debate, to t'md fault with men and 
measures of former limes, and panieidarly of the course pursued by the East on many 
occasions. On the 201 h, Mr. W(!l)ster took the floor in reply. He had intended to 
take no part in the debate, for he could not have imaguK^d that it would have taken 
such a range; but he felt that he was bound to go out, though unarmed, when his 
views, his whole course of political conduct, and that portion of the coimtry which 
gave him birth, were all so rudely treated. The effect of this day's speech was pow- 
erful. He met and answered Mr. Hayne's attack upon the policy of the United States 
towards the purchasers of Western lands, which Mr. Hayne seemed to think was 
hard, rigorous and unftchng. Mr. Webster proved that it was not oiilv just, but pre- 

5* 



54 LII'E or DANIEL WEBSTER. 

cisely what it ought to liave been, to build up the West solidly and prosperously. He 
dwelt on the arduous duties of the Goverumeiit, to plant these territories and defend 
them against the most powerful tribes of Indians known on the comment. To prove 
the vast amount of the expenses of thesefrontiers, he pointed to the exertions and the 
' sufferings of Harman and St. Clair ; and for the wisdom of the policy, to the growth, 
the magic growth, of Ohio. To make it plain, he ran over the history of this growth, 
and urged the claims of those who fought the battles of the revolution to the lands in 
order to pay them for their services. 

Mr. Webster denied that the tariff belonged to the East. New England was not 
tlie author of it. He contended that she nad ever been kind and generous to the 
West, that her policy was liberal to the South and West. Heciiallenged a recurrence 
to all her votes in those times, in which she was supposed to be most unfriendly to the 
Western States, for the correctness of her conduct. 

Mr. Benton replied to this speech, and Mr. Hayiie followed with no little e.xcite- 
nient. He refused to postpone the subject, and wished for an opportunity to return 
the fire he had received. Mr. Webster's friends asked for him some delay, as tlicy 
knew his engagements in the Supreme Court at that time: he, however, wished the 
discussit)n to proceed. Mr. Hayne then made a speech of great length, in whirh he 
enlarged his former accusations, and enforced anew his own doctrines. Mr. Webster 
followed. 

In tliis speech, on tlie26ih of January, he turned upon Mr. Hayne and threw bark 
his sarcasms with great dignity and effect. I'he North was ably vindicated, by the 
best of all possible method.s, by appealing directly to the history of past ages, and 
bringing up her deeds from the commencement of the Government ; or, rather, before 
the Constitution was formed down to the present day. .411 was clear as sunshine. — 
The clouds were swept away, if there were those who vvere bewildered by assert on, 
or for a moment darkened by erroneous statements made with the solemnity of truth. 
Mr. Webster defended the Northern and Eastern States in their course of conduct 
towards the West, particularly as that had been a second time the burden of ]Mr. 
Hnyne's philippic. 

Mr. Webster went through the charges against the East, the Federalists, and all 
the sins of omission and commission alleged against them, with fearless appeals to 
the journals of the House and Senate, to every page of information, within doors and 
without ; but without any narrow spirit or sectional partialities. He paid that homage 
to the illustrious men of South Carolina, that a great mind always feels for departed 
genius and worth, wherever born, or in whatever age their virtues were stamped. — 
He went farther, and expressed his pride in calling 'the Laurenses, the Ruilcdges, 
the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions, Americans, all^vyliose fame is no more 
to be hemmed in by Stale lines, than their talents an i patriotism were capable of be- 
ing circumscribed within the same narrow limits.' His description of their patriotic 
course, — of their deeds,— as uni'ed with the East, in the great revolutionary conflict, 
'when they went shoukler to shoulder,' through the perils of the hour; and when 
they together rallied around the father of his country, 'and felt his own great arm 
lean on them for support,' was full of life and truth The orator turneti to Massa- 
chusetts, but instantly left her filonc in her glory. All this was noble ; it showed the 
orator, the statesman, and the iible defeiuler of all those who lonked to him for a just 
and fair representation of them and their history; who looked to him, also, as an 
advocate with the world for their claims to piiie republican principles and patriotic 
exertions. lie would not suffer his friends to be chargeil with faults, without daring 
their accusers to the proof; nor slandered without repelling the falsehoods with an 
honest zeal for their fame. Ages may pass away before such another opportunity will 
be given for such aiKJtber defence. 

It was not this part of the oration, eloquent as it was, abounding in almost every 
species of tiie divine art, that niade the most vaiualde portion of it ; it «as not the 
keen irony, the lucid explanation, the spirited niort, the lU'oud defence, the irresistible 
answer, that tliis great production contained, that shall live tlie longest among his 
fellow men. It is the full, fair and noble commentary on the Constitution, that is to 
run onward ;is king as that Cimstitution shall last; and to survive it, if it should 
crumble to the dust, that will exist for ever, and be a standard for future ages. This 
was not a commentary made by a theorist in his closet, who had no practical know- 
ledge on the siil)ject; no, it was an examintition made by a statesmtin, on tl'e floor 
of the Senate, before statesmen, in the hearing of the country; where the slightest 
error in fact would have been corrected on the rpot. What sages had said, what poli- 
ticians had suggested, and (iractical men hail effected, all came burstiiig from his 
memory in a flood of light, and illuniijied all around him. He denied the doctrine 
that this Constitution was a compact between the Thirteen Slates, which was bind- 
ing on them only as States, and on other States which niiijlit be admitted into the 



LIFK OF DANIEL WKRSTF.R. 55 

TJiilon ; but contondwl that it wns from the people, made by them, in their name, in 
llieir natiir:il capiiciiy ; urul that, as far as the Slates particularly iiiierfcred in tlie for- 
niationot the instrumvnt, was only a method of tiettin- ilip voices of the people 
1 lie acts (lone under this Consiitution were not to receive their coiistnictions from the 
cpmions of any State, but were to be tested, if disputed, by tribunals provided for in 
Carohna ""^ ^^ the doctrine as held by ihe gentleman from South 

'I understand the honorable gentleman from South Carolina to maintain, iliat it is 
a risht ot the State Legislatures to interfere, whenever, iu their judijinent this Gov- 
■ernment transcends Its consiitutional hinits, and to arrest the operation of iis laws 

1 understand liiin to maintain this right, as a right exiL-ting under the Constitution 
tlfy vfoL'if r.Vdu'tion "" "' "" *''"'''"'"' "'''''■'"■'''"'' necessity, such as would jus- 

1 understand him to rnaintain an authority, on the part of the States, thus to in- 
terlcre, for the purpose o correcting tlic exercise of power by the Cxeneral Govern- 
ment, ot checking It, and of compelling it to conform to their opinion of the extent of 

'I understand him to maintain, thai the ultimate power of judging of the constitu- 
tional extent of its own authority, ,s not lodged exclusively in the Oieneral Govern- 
ment, or any branch of it : but iliat, on the contrary, the Stales may lawfully decide 
for themselves, an.l each State for itself, whether, in a givep case, the act of le Gtn 
eral Government transcends Its power a . , i.c ^-.^n 

'I understand him to insist, that if the exigency of the case, in the opinion of r.tiy 
State Government require it, such State Governineiu may, by its own Lvtrei-n a. 
bi; m;;^j;;s;^!iUo^d:'"' ''" ^^"^"' Government, which \l deems plamly .uiKi;":- 

These heads were examined singly, as they were stated, and their fallacy exposed 
and the sophistry that supported them put down, by the stlong ban of t u l^aml the 
power of reason He showed the impraeiicability of carrying into effbct the " entle- 
man s mode of testing the eonstuutionahty ol an act of t^ongress; tluit i L very at- 
tenipt w^uldbe treason, however sincere and patriotic the int.^ition Tl es7 wehJs 
of Mr. Hayne and Mr. Webster Hew on ten thousand wings to eve y pan of the 
Lnion ; and the explanations and elucidations of all and every oart of th, ( 'onsiit , 

rUmte'd'^-a'L'a's h;il'""T' ''''' ^"'"'i '' '^ .re:rt^t.^>m-trn'l/tKZ:; o? 
me united .Mates as full, souna, just, and satis actory. The peoole as a bodv ..f 
men, on.abstract questions, are clear headed; they cam ot be g dK dazzl«i b ai y 
one,-with a noble obstinacy tliey will judge for tliemselves. On a grea jnst ution-.^ 
question, hey never stop to ask to what party the expounder belm'4 or fr^ X 
section ot the country he came; these are matters of after thn'T.tVh^^ 
heir concordance of sentiment and opinion first, and then nqi'i le fmn>\vl en,^^ ran^ 

5we inS al e t e e , smo '''''''' '"f '^ y^,'-" ,"">>' )^^-''^'^" ''"^ f'""'-'^ of the whole,- 

meia^:MLSa ttheHfrh^t;;;?^^^ 

ofjiis taste as well as of his ;ovv';;s of ^^Isoninl" "^ '"' ""''' '" ^''"^ something 

thal'iiie (• ;,::l!;^:,i:.:,'^;^ 'i"i^i;.u:d '^:^ ti^f^;;S,?;,;iJ \:v\ '^ 'T'^''-'''' 

Kr-^r^;;;'-l-a^S3^^^^^^^^ 
suiie^;^;'i;;;^.S.la;io;l,':;.,;S;;;;:r;:ii;;-r -'- ^ original provision, or 

of It.. If any construetio , be es h sl"d nc e,;,!? T?!''" '"""'' '"T 'V "^' '"^ 
practically, a part of .he Constitution: t;;;V':'dl' alllSS t '^^^^ o:.^s^:^Z^ 



66 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

pleasure, but while the people choose to maintain it as it is,— while they are satisfied 
with it, and refuse to chanjze it, — who has given, or who can give, to the State Legis- 
latures, a right to alter it, either by interference, construction or otherwise? Gentle- 
men do not seem to recollect that the people have any power to do any thing for 
themselves ; they imagine there is no safety for them, any longer than they are under 
the close guardianship of the State Legislatures. Sir, the people have not trusted 
their safety, in regard to the general Constitution, lo these hands. They have re- 
quired other security, and taken other bonds. They have chosen to trust themselves, 
first, to the plain words of the instrument, and to such construction as the Govern- 
ment itself, m doubtful cases, should put on its own powers, under their oaths of of- 
fice, and subject to their responsibility to them ; just as the people of a State trust 
their own Slate Governments with a similar power. Secondly, they have reposed their 
trust in the efficacy of frequent elections, and in their own power to remove their own 
servants and agents, whenever they see cause. Thirdly, they have reposed trust in 
the judicial power, which, in order that it might be trust-worthy, they have made as 
respectable, as disinterested, and as independent as was practicable. Fourthly, they 
have seen fit to rely, in case of necessity, or high expediency, on their known and ad- 
mitted power, to alter or amend the Constitution, peaceably, and quietly, whenever 
experience shall point out defects or imperfections. And, finally, the people of the 
United States have, at no time, in no way, directly or indirectly, authorized any State 
Legislature to construe or interpret their liigh instrument of Government ; much less 
to interfere, by their own pov.'er, to arrest its course and operation. 

'If, sir, the people, in these respects, had done otherwise ilian they have done, their 
Constitution could neither have been preserved, nor would it have been worth pre- 
serving. And, if its plain provisions shall now be disregarded, and these new doc- 
trines interpolated in it, it will become as feeble and helpless a being, as its enemies, 
M'hethcr early or more recent, could possibly desire. It will exist in every State, but 
as a poor dependent on State permission. It must borrow leave to be ; and will be, 
no longer than State pleasure, or State discretion, sees fit to grant the indulgence, 
and to prolong its poor existence. 

' 5ut, sir, although there are fears, there are hopes also. The people have preserved 
this, their own chosen Con.stitution, for forty years, and have seen their happiness, 
prosperity, and renown, grow with its growth, and strengthen with its strength. 
They are now, generally, strongly attached to it. Overthrown by direct assault, it 
cannot be; evaded, undermined, nullified, it will not he, if we, and those who shall 
succeed us here, as agents and representatives of the people, .shall, conscientiously 
and vigilantly discharge the two great branches of our public trust,— faithfully to pre- 
serve, and wisely to administer it. , , • , • . 
'Mr. President, I have thus stated the reasons of my dissent to the doctrines which 
have been advanced and maintained. I am conscious of having detained you and 
the Senate much too long. I was drawn into the debate, with no previous dehbera- 
tion such as is suited to tne discussion of so grave and important a subject. Kut it is 
a subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been willing to suppress the utter- 
ance of its spontaneous sentiments. I cannot, even now, persuade myself to relin- 
quish it, without expressing once more, my deep conviction, that, since it respects 
nothing less than the union of the Slates, it is of most vita and essential impor- 
tance to the public happiness. I profess, sir, in mv career, lutherlo, to have kept 
steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preserva- 
tion of our Federal Union. It is lo that union we owe our salety at home, and our 
consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that union that we are chirfiy indebted for 
whatever makes us inost proud of our country. That union we reached only by the 
discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had us origin in the ne- 
cessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit, p'^ier its be- 
nign influences, these great interests immediately awoke, aslrom the dead, and sprang 
forth with newness of life. Every year of its duradon has teemed wiih fresh piools 
of its utility and its bles.sings; and, although our territory has siretched oui wider and 
•wider, and our population spread farther and farther, ihey have not outrun its protec- 
tion or its benefits. It has been to us all a copious fountain ol national, social, and 
personal happiness. I have not allowed mysi If, sir, to look beyond the union, to see 
what might lie bidden in the dark recess behind. I have not cool y weighed the chan- 
ces of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asun- 
der I have not accustomed myself to hangover the precipice of disunion, to see 
whether, with my short sight, 1 can fathom the(hi)ih of the abyss below ; nor could 
I regard him as a safe counsellor in the aflhirs of this Government, whose thoughts 
ehould be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union should be best preserved, 
but how tolerahlo might be the condition of the people when it shall be broken up 
and destroyed. While the Union laste, we have high, exciting, gratifying proepects 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 57 

spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate 
tlio veil. (Tod grant ihat, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. God grani, 
that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind. When n\y eyes shiill bo 
turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shinin{< on 
the broken and dislionored frai?ments of a once hIdhous Union ; on Stales dissevcreii, 
discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in 
fraternal blood !— Let their last feeble and lingering glance, rather behold the i;orge- 
ous ensign of the Republic, now known and lionored throughout the earth, still full 
high advanced, its arms and trojjhics streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe 
erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured— bearing for its motto, no such misera- 
ble interrogatory, as Wknt is all this trorth ? Nor those other words of di'lu.~ion and 
folly, Liberty fivi-t, and Union aflencards — but every where, spread all over in char- 
acters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over 
the land, and in every wind imder the whole heavens that other sentiment, de.-ir to 
every true American heart— Liberty a )k/ Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!' 

It has fallen to the lot of Mr. Webster to have been called upon to exjiress his 
opinion upon all the great questions which have been agitated in the CDinnumity since 
he has been upon the stage. He has been too cautious to obtrude a premature opinion 
on any subject, but when his mind has beeti made up and svhen properly called upon, 
he has always expressed himself dir<>cily, without any of that double meaning so 
common with political aspirants. On the great question of the power given to T'on- 
gress by the Constitution to make internal improveiuents he has in many of hig 
speeches been explicit, but at the same lime added, that it was a power that should 
be most discreetly used. The opposition to this doctrine is diminishing, upon the 
conviction of its usefulness in extending the honelicial elFeets of the General Govern- 
ment, particiilarly on the seaboard and frontiers. 

Though it is not directly in his pathway as, a lawyer, he has been called upon to 

five his opinion upon the subject of the abolishment of imprisonment for debt. There 
as been no little bitterness of feeling upon this question. The most zealous advo- 
cates for the abolition, thinking to get all they asked for at once, would not consent to 
proceed by degrees to the accomplishment of their wishes, as they should have done. 
They were for knocking oft' all the shackles at once and be free as air. In thi.s, thoy 
showed more spirit than prudence, or knowledge of human nature. The supporters 
of the iron system took advantage of the imperative tone of their opponents, and liv 
alarming the timid and the doubtful, still kept the majority hi New England on thefr 
side,— and sometimes,— a most miserable policy,— secured the bolts aiid bars of the 
prison niore closely ; for break they must,— the decree of common sense and soiiiul 
policy has gone forth and will be obeyed, however hard the struggle and desperate the 
fight. 

The progress of liberal opinion has been gradual even in New England, and many 
who were at first opposed to the abolishment of imprisonment are now friendly to it, 
having examined the subject more thoroughly. The liberal views of several of the 
first men of New England on this subjet^t, exprcssrd many years ago, ought not now 
to be forgotten. Thomas H. Fvrkins, a most opulent merchant and a higli minded 
gentleman in Koston, ten or twelve years past, took lead in attenTpting to anirliorate 
or repeal the laws on imprisonment for debt in Massachusetts; and more than 
tw-enty years ago a refined and polished scholar, and an honorable merchant, 
Benjamin Pickinan of Salem, avowed the strange (ioctrine, for that day, that there 
should be no impri.soniiient for the honest delitor. His exalted moral purity and 
weight of intellectual character, must have had souit- influence even then, but he has 
hved to see his principles gain ground; and in many States obtain ultimate success. 

Some years since, a benevolent society was formed in Boston, wliieli, among oth'r 
inatters, look up the subject of iinprisoninrut for debt. They began in the right way to 
insure ultimate suec(.ss, and that was to ac. lunulate all the necessary facts to enlighten 
the people. The investigation astonislu;.! themselves, for this examination clearly 
proved that imprisonment instead of beiiiL- .1 mean of coercing the collection of debts 
was.onlv disguised vengeanccon the part of the creditor in nine cases out of ten. These 
di'lails they spreail before the public, and it must becoiifes.sed that this has done more 
tlian arguments, in furtherance of their benevolent views. Not resting here, they 
wished to fortify themselves by the deliberate opinion of men, who do and ought to give 
direction in no sinalj decree to public opinion, and they directed letters to several gentlr- 
men of distinction in 3Iussachusetts, n questing opinions upon certain iiroposiiions, 
which taken together m..ilved all the principles discussed in relation to imprisonment 
for debt. Judge Jack.*..i. Mr. E. Everett, Mr. Webster, returned answers to the man- 
agers, and although ihcic is no probabilitv that there was any concert among them, 
yet the spirit of their answers was the saiiie. 
The public are inm-li indebted to this society, for they have not only measured and 



58 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

gansed the miseries caused by oppressive laws and injurious practices, but iliey liave 
taken the best method of bringing about reform. The facts stated by the great phi- 
lanthropist, Howard, collected in his tour of humanity, were a thousand times moro 
valuable than his charities, which were numerous and well bestowed. The disclo- 
sures that he published, set the humane to thinking on and examining the subject of 
the state of prisons ; he brought the abuses of power home to every one by words and 
figures. There can be no fear but that a moral people will act right when ihey know 
the whole matter: but it is difficult to get at the truth, when there are so many in- 
terested, as they tliink, to keep the truth out of sight ; but the truth which has been so 
long concealed is now bursting upon us. VVe have been influenced by exaggerated or 
fictitious fears, while we were closing our eyes against real ones in our very neighbor- 
iiood. How many have wept over the wretched prisoner of State in the bastile ? The 
story of the man in the iron mask has been lold, until we were almost suflbcated with 
the pressure of the weight of the n achine upon pur throats. We have followed the 
condemned one over the Bridge of Sighs, and shrieked in our reveries as we saw him 
< nter the prison, nevermore to retiu'n. These instances of cruelly are shocking to the 
feelings of a free and humane people, they burn with indignation at such oppression, 
:ind are ready for a crusade against such enormities. Why sleeps the vengeance of 
God when sueh cruel scenes are enacted ? is their exclamation. This is natural, this 
is honest ; it is honorable to iiuman nature; but it would be well for us to spare our- 
s. h'es all the.se writhings of sensibility for (he bastile and the dungeons of Venice. 
These prisons were not crowded ; for years they had no inmates,— and seldom was 
t'lf T" a .State victim in F'rance or in Venice; but in our land of freedom, hundreds and 
tens of hundreds have been jammed into county jails, for paltry debts which they 
were unable to pay ; and even kept there by the power of some petty, heartless tyrant, 
until their siiirits were broken, and their nealth and morals destroyed, and no one 
among us laid it to heart. 

Let spendthrift folly be chastised by the law ; let fraud be punished as severely as 
you will ; but in the name of justice set free, after due examination, the honest debtor, 
\\ ho has struggled to pay all he could, and deplores that he can do no more. There 
i-i hope for the wretched, for humanity has penetrated the darkest cells of theprison- 
liouse, and taken an inventory of all the miseries there to be known ; and this is not 
all, strong voices, which must and will be heard, are calling aloud to the people from 
every quarter, to wrench the bolts, to burst the bars, and to demolish the dark pile, 
where lionest poverty is confined with cut-throat villany, and reserve the dungeon 
alone for the felon. 

We are happy in pausing a moment in our progress, from one public monument to 
another in the life of Mr. Webster, to notice this subject, so deeply efiecting the 
community. 

To such men as have given their opinion freely upon the questions which Mere pro- 
I osed by this society, we would say, as the father of mankind did to the celestial mes- 
senger, who had freely answered many inquiries of high import, 

'TJiou to nicinhind 
' Be gonj and friendly still, and uft return !' 

Letter addressed to Rev. Louis Dicisht. Secretary of the Prison Discipline Society, 

on the Subject of Imvrisomnent fur Debt. 

Wasliingtnn, !May 2, 1830. 

' Sir,— I have received your letter of tue .?rth of .April, asking iny opinion upon 
several questions, all relative to the subject uf iniprisoiimeut for debt. I am quite 
willing to express my general opinions on that intciresting subject, although they are 
not so matured as to be entitled to iiilluer.ce other men's judgments. The existing 
laws, I think, call loudly for revision and amendment. Your first four questions seek 
to know what I think of imi)riaonment for small sums. I am decidedly against it ; I 
would carry the exemption to debts of thirty or forty dollars, at least. Individual in- 
stances of evil or hardship might, I am aware, follow fnnn such a change; but I ain 
persuaded the general result would be favorable, in a high degree, to industry, sobri- 
ety, and good morals, as well as to personal liberty. 

'You ask, in the next place, what I tliink of imprisonment for debt in anv case 
where there is no evidence of fraud. ( Certainly 1 am of opinion that there should be no 
imprisonment for debt, where it appears that no fraud has been practised, or intended, 
either in conlrncling the debt, or in omitting to pay it. Hut then, it seems tome, that, 
when a man does not fulfil a lasvful promise, he (uight to show his inability, and to 
show also that his own conduct has been fair and honest. He ought not to be al- 
lowed merely to cay he cannot pay, and then to call on the creditor to prove that his 
ijjability is pretended or fraudulent. He ought to show why lie does not and cannot 



LIFE OF PANIEL M'EBSTER. 59 

fulfil liisfionlract, and to eive reasonable evidence that he has not acted fraudulentiv; 
and, this beins; done, his person oujiht to be held no longer. In the first place, the 
creditor is entitled to the oath of hi-s debtor, and, in the next place, to satisfactory ex- 
planation of any suspicious circumstances. 

'Tiiere are two sorts of fraud, other of whicii, when proved, ought to prevent a 
liberation of the person, viz. : fraud in contracting? the debt, and fraud in concealing, 
or making way with, the means of payment. And the usual provisions of the bank- 
rupt act ouj^ht to be added, that no one (<hould be discharged, who is proved to have 
lost money in any species of gaming; and I should include, in this class, nil adven- 
turers in lotteries. Having tendered his own oath, and niade just explanation of any 
circumstances of suspicion, if there be such, and not having lost money by gaming, the 
debtor ought to be discharged at once; which answers another of your (juesti^ons; 
for the detention of thirty days, before the oath can be taken, appears to me wholly 
useless. 

' You are pleased to ask whether, in my judgment. Christians can, with a good con- 
science, imprison either other Christians or mfidels 1 He would be very little of a 
Christian, 1 think, who should make a difference, in such a case, and be willing to use 
a degree of severity towards Jew and Greek, which he would not use towards one of 
hisown faith. Whether conscientious men can imprison anybody for debt, whom 
ihey do not believe dishonest or fraudulent, is a question which every man, while the 
law allows such imprisonment, must decide for hiinself. In answer to your inquiry, 
whether 1 iiave found it necessary to use such coercion, in regard to debts of my own, 
I have to say, that I never imprisoned any man for my own debt, under any circuni- 
stances ; nor have I, in five and twenty years' professional practice, ever recoinnietided 
it to others, e.vcept in cases where there was manifest proof, or violent and unexplained 
sus^picion of iiueniional fraud. 

'Imprisonment for debt, iny dear sir, as it is now practised, is, in my judgment, a 
great evil ; and, it seeins to mc, an efliictual remedy for the larger part of the evil is 
obvious. Nineteen twentieths of the whole of it would be relieved, in my opinion, if 
imprisonment for small debts were to be abolished. That object I believe to b»- atiniri- 
able; and to its attainment, I think, the main attention of those who take an intcref=t 
in the subject should be directed. Small credits are often given, on the coiifidi^nce of 
being able to collect the debt by the terrors of the jail; great ones, seldom or never. 
'Three simple provisions would accomplish all, in my opinion, that may be fonsidcr- 
ed as absolutely required to a just state of the law, respecting imprisonment for debt 
fn Massachusetts. 

'1. That no im|irisonment shoidd be allowed, when the debts, exclusive of cost.s, 
did not amount to Si30. 

'•2. That there should be no necessity of imprisonment for thirty days, as prelimi- 
nary to taking the poor debtor's oath ; nor any longer detention than such as is neces- 
sary to give parties notice, and time to prepare for e.xamiiuition ; and that a eonvenieht 
number of magistrates, in every county, should, for the purpose of administering the 
oaths, be appointed by the government; and that such ma^'istrates should be clothed 
with such further powers as might be thought e.xpedient, iii order to enable them to 
make a thorough invesligiitioii of the fairness or fraud of the debtor's conduct. 

' .3. That in cases where the debtor had been discharged, if tlie creditor would make 
oath to newly discovered evidence, proving original fraud, or, to his belief, that tiie 
debtor had subsequently received property, and concealed or withheld. the same from 
his creditors, it should be competent to such creditor to have investigation of such 
charge, and, if made out, to have execution against the person, and ii' not made out, 
that the creditor should pay the cost of the proceeding. 

'Other provisions might doubtless be useful; but if these three alone could be ob- 
tained, they would, in a great measure, clear the jails of debtors, and give general 
satisfaction, I have no doubt, to creditors. 

'1 ought to add. that the imprisonment of females in the common jails, for mere 
debt, is a barbarism which ought iiot to be tolerated. Instances of such imprison- 
ment, though rare, do yet sometimes occur, under circumstances that sliock every 
humane mind. In this respect, the law ought, in my judgment, to be altogether re- 
formed.' 

In an earlier part of this memoir, we noticed some few of the forensic speeches of 
Mr. Webster, but a very small number of them only could be named or noticed with 
critical remarks, even if this work were extended to half a dozen volunu-s, and wc 
had the notes from which they might be taken; for he has now been twenlv-six 
years at the bar, and in full practice in higher and in inferior courts also a portion of 
the time, and in that period he has argued more than a thousand causes of impor- 
tance, besides an immense number of those which are necesaarilv forgotten with the 
common business of the day. Many of those, both of the greater and the lesser kind 



66 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

are lost, irrevocably lost, but their effects on court and jury will be long remembered. 
Some of them no doubt, made when there were no restraints upon him, and when in 
the hours of heahli and spuMts, had as much power and more brilliancy than his ef- 
forts made m hij;h places with repoiters at his elbow. The world has been favored but 
with few volumes of forensic eloquence, in comparison with the number of speeches 
jireserved from the debates of deliberative bodies. One reason for this scarcity has 
been, that these productions do not always corivey the honest dictates of the speak- 
er's undersiandins?, and of course satisfied with whatever ingenuity he may have 
exhibited at the time, or with the praise he may have received, he is not desirous that 
his argument should be preserved ; and when he and his friends are satisfied that his 
logic is sound, and his argument felicitous, it is difficult to preserve an extemporane- 
ous speech, unless there be some strong inducement for the speaker to sit down jmd 
write it out from his notes, and it would be almost impossible for one in full practice to 
do this often. The late Judge Parsons, who for more than thirty years held the first 
rank at the bar of Massachusetts, and with it the reputation of beinsr among the 
greatest geniuses and profoundest scholars of the world, has not left, as far as is now 
disclosed, a page of any argument he ever made before court or jury, and the eviden- 
ces of his greatness rest on his judicial opinions as a Chief Ji slice, an office which he 
only held about seven years previous to his death. Parsons lived in a time v\ hen the 
f;reat elements which are incorporated with our national Constitution were coming 
into forni and substance, and he was one of the most powerful agents in giving it the 
noble stamp it has borne ever since. Yet nothing is to be found of this great man's 
forensic eloquence on paper; it lives only in the memories of those \yho loved him, 
and were so fortunate as to have heard him at the bar. Of the forensic eloquence of 
Dexter only a few shreds of speeches remain. Of all their predecessors of mighty 
name and long life in New England, you might asvvell ask the sea to give up us 
dead, as to inquire for what they said on the most vital occasions. Obli.ion has de- 
voured them all, and hardly has their plunge into the abyss of the great destroyer been 
riMnembered. Not ten of Mr. Webster's speeches at the bar, have, even in this more 
careful age, been saved, unless he has preserved them himself, which is not in the 
least probable, as those who perform the most have the least time to record their do- 
ings. The few which have been saved, have in i^eneral, had some bearings upon State 
rights, or were connected with some popular excitement. Three or four of them we 
have mentioned, and to which may be added, the speeches in the case of Gibbons 
against Ogden, and Ogden against Saimders. These have been spread over the coun- 
try by the public journals, and their points and bearing are so well known that it is 
not necessary to give an analysis of them. 

In February, 1831, while Mr. Webster was at Washington, several distinguished 
gentlemen of the city of New York sent him an invitation to partake of a public din- 
ner in the city, at such time as he should appoint. This invitation and acceptance is 
taken from the journals of the day, and are unquestionably authentic. 

New York, Feb. 23, 1831. 
To the Hon. Daniel Webster, 

Sir — Your distinguished public services on a great and trying occasion at the last 
session of Congress in vindicating the principles of the Constitution, and the powers 
of the general Government, have given you a just title to the lasting gratitude of your 
country. 

A number of the citizens of New York, deeply impressed with the value and suc- 
cess of these eli'orts, have expressed an earnest desire to unite in otlt^^ing you some 
public mark of their respect, and we have been deputed to ask the h.onorof your com- 
pany at a public dinner in this cily, at such time as your convenience will permit, and 
as you may be pleased to designate. 

We have the honor to be 

\ouv obedient servants, 
Richard Varlck, B. Robinson, .John Hone, John S. Crarv, Wm. Johnson, Henry I. 
Wytkoii; David Hosack, George Newbold, 1. Bronson, Charles VNilkes, LyndeCat- 
lin, James G. King, George Griswold, Nathaniel Richards, vSteiihen Whitney, John 
A. Stevens, Jonathan Goodhue, Frederick Sheldon, Nicholas Kish, David H. Ogden, 
H. Maxwell, C. H. Russell, ('yriis Perkins, James Kent, Robert Troup, William W. 
Woolsey, Peter A. Jav, Benjamin L. Swan, J. Bo(,rman, Frederick A. Tracy, H. 
Beekman, John B. Lawrence, John Haggerty, Valentine 3Iott, Isaac S. Hone, Ed- 
ward M. Greenway, David Lydig, E. M. Herryman, Richard IM. Lawrence, John L. 
Lawrence, Cornelius W. Lawrence, Morgan Lewis, William ■■•son, R. Sedgwick, 
ThomaB G. Cary, Seih P. Staples. 



LJFE OF DANIEL. VVEB.STEK. 61 

Wasliiiigion, Marcii 1, 1331. 

GonUonioii, 

1 liHVf re'-eiveil your letter of the -Wfl February, inviting me to a public dinner as n. 
iiiMrk of your re-pect, for etl'urts made by me on a recent occasion, which you are kind 
ciunji^h i() think wore of some value to the country. 

It is iniposiiible fir me not to be hi;^hly ifratiiied, by perceiving that a favorable esti- 
mate Ims be. a rilaced by \ou on aiiv j'ublic service of mine. 

I acce-pi, gpiitlerncn, witii great plc-isure your pniUbr.d civility ; and since yon leave 
the time to be fi.xed by me, would ob.^erve, that I sluill probably be in New York oil' 
tile 21tii iiistant. If agreeable to yo\i that may be the day. 

I have the honor to be, with true regard. 

Your obedient servant, 

DANIEL VVKBSTER. 
To the Hon. .Fames Kent, Jlorgan Lewis, RicharJ Varick, Peter A. Jay, &c. &c. 

The dinner was given on the 2-irh of IMnrch. Thi.s was done without distinction of 
parlies. The lovers of talent ai:d patriotism were united in this tribute of respect to 
one wiiohad so ably expouii. ltd the principles of the Constitutioii of the United States, 
find one who always :-oarcd above party when any thing national was to be con- 
sidered. 

Chancellor Kent presided at this dinner, assisted by Peter A. .lay, .Tohti Hone, dnd 
r, iward M. Giienway, as Vice Presidents. It was highly gratifying to every reason- 
able man, to every goo'i patriot, to see so many gentlemen of difiereiU politics, in 
party times, siituig at the same board in harmony and good I'ellowship. The toasts 
and speeches were free from any tinge of jariy feelnig, and all liberal, patriotic, and 
nuexcepfionable in every respect. The illustrious Pre^jdent, known to the world as 
a judge, a chancellor and a scholar, in equity and jurisprudence, in the first ranks of 
thoS'i who have benefited the world by their decisions and commentaries, made an 
elegant speecli complimentary to the guest, as introductory to a toast. 

'Tile President, Chancell'jr Kent, called the attention of the gentkmen to a toast, 
til winch he w.is sure lli:-ir judg'iieuts ;,nd their hearts would respond. 

'.\ew England had been long fruitful in great men, the necessary consequence of 
t!ie adniirnble discipline of her instilutinns ; and we were this day honored with the 
presence of one of those cherished objects of her attachment and pride, who has an 
undoubted and peculiar title to our regard. It is a plain truth, that he who deiends the 
Constitution of his country by his wi.~dom in council, is entitled to share her gratitude 
with those who protect it by valor in the tield. Peace has its victories as well as 
wer. We all recollect a late memorable occasion, when the e.\alted takiits and en- 
lightened pairiolisin of the genilcmen to whom he had alluded, were exerted in the 
support of our national Union, and the sound interpretation of its Charter. If there 
l,e any one political ])rccept fire-eminent above all others, and acknowledged by all, 
it is that which dictates the absolute necessity of a union of the States under one gov- 
ernment, and that government clothed with those attributes and powers with which 
thee.xisiing Constitution has invested it. Wo were indebted, under Providence, to 
tile operation and inrluenco of the powers of tliat Constitution, for our national honor 
td)roa<i and for unexampled prosperity at h()nie. 1 13 future stability depended upon 
the firm suppiirt and due e.xereise of its legitimate powers in all their branches. A 
tendency to disunion — to anarchy among the rnenibers, rather thari to tyranny in the 
head— had been hercto'orc the melancholy fate of all the federal governments of 
ancient and modern Europe. Our Union and national Constitution were forined as 
we have hitherto bi'en led to believe under better auspiii'es and with improved wisdom. 
P.iit there was a deadly principle of disease inherent in the system. The assuinption, 
liy any member of the Union, of the right to (jueslion and resist, or annul, as its own 
judgment should (Jictaie, either the laws of Congress, or the treaties, or the decision.'! 
o{ the federal courts^ or the mandates of the executive power, duly made and promul- 
gated us the Constitution prescribes, was a most dangerous assumption of power, 
leading to collision and the de9trucli<ni of tlis system. .\nd if, contrary to all our e.x- 
po'-tations, we should hereafter fail in the grand experiment of a confederate govern- 
ment, extending over some of the fairest portions of this continent, and destined to 
act, at the sinie tinie, with efficiency and harmony, we should most grievously dis- 
appoint the hopes of mankind, and blast for ever the fruits of the revolution. 

' But, happily for us, the refutation of such dangerous pretensions, on the occasion 
referred to, was signal and complete. The false images and delusive theories which 
had perplexed the thoughts and disturbed the judgments of men, were then dissipated 
in like manner as spectrca disappear at the rising of the sun. Theinestnnnble value 
of the Union, and the true principles of the Constitution were explained by clear and 
accurate reasonings, a:id enforced by pathetic and eloquent illusirations. The result 

6 



^ LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

was the more auspicious, as tiie heretical doctrines, which were then fairly reasoned 
down, had been advanced by a very respectable portion of the Union, and urged on 
the floor of the Senate by the polished mind, manly zeal, and honored name of a dis- 
tinguished member of the South. 

'The consequences of that discussion have been extremely beneficial. It turned (he 
attention of the public to the great doctrines of national rights and national union. — 
Constitutional law ceased to remain wrapped up in the breasts, and taught only by 
the responses of the living oracles of the law. Socrates was said to have drawn 
down philosophy from the skies, and scattered it among the schools. It may with 
equal truth be said that Constitutional law, by means of those Senatorial discussions, 
and the master genius that guided them, was rescued irom the archivesof our tribunals 
and the libraries of lawyers, and placed under the eye and submitted to the judgment 
of the American people. Their rerdict is xcith us, and from it there lies no appeal.' 

This was followed in return by a speech from Mr. Webster, whose animation was 
equal to the occasion. A high spirit breathed in every word, and a reverence border- 
ing upon enthusiasm was extended to those departed sages, who had made sacrifices 
to build up our invaluable institutions. Standing, as it were, by the grave of Hamil- 
ton, the Orator drew a character of him, whose ashes slept beneath the sod. No 
marble monument can eternize the dead, like the lips of truth and the tongue of elo- 
quence. It was the precise moment for Hamilton's eulogy to be pronounced; for 
many of those listenmg to the voice of the Orator knew well the subject of his 
praise ; knew him personally ; remembered him, and what he did ; and could bear 
testimony that all that the eulogist said was true ; and that more, much more, might 
have been said on the sarne subject ; and yet time enough had elapsed to extract the 
sting from envy, and to dissipate all the ranklings of political strife. Other worthies 
were not forgotten on this occasion; — Jay and Livingston, — names to be called up 
when the glories of our revolution are to be commemorated, or our history written, — 
were brought out in relief; others were not forgotten, although not mentioned for 
want of tinu>. A tenth part of them could not be named in such a passing moment. 
A feast of this sort is an hour anticipated from that golden age which is to come ; 
that age of exalted virtue and pure intelligence, — that age when justice shall lift aloft 
her scale, and white-robed innocence descend from Heaven ;— when different natures 
shall live in peace, and harmony, and love. Whoever has spent his days in party- 
times, and has nhniged into party feuds,— who has brought himself to praise those 
he disliked, and lias shunned those he truly respected ;— and all have done this, more 
or less, who have been partizans,— can tell how pleasant is such an hour of harmony 
and good feeling. 

'I owe the honor of this occasion, gentlemen, to your patriotic and aflectionafe 
attachment to the Constitution of the country. For an eflbrt, well intended, how- 
ever otherwise of unpretending character, made in the discharge of public duty, and 
designed to maintain the Constitution, and vindicate its just powers, you have been 
pleased to tender me this token of your respect. Ii would be idle affectation to dmy 
that it gives me singular gratification. Every public man inust naturally desire the 
approbation of his fellow-citizens; and though it may be supposed that 1 should lie 
anxious, in the first place, not to disappoint the expectations of those whose imme- 
diate representative I am, it is not possible that I should not feel, nevertheless, the 
high value of such a mark of esteem as is liere ofi'ered. But, gentlemen, 1 am con- 
scious that the main purpose of this occasion is higher than mere manifestation of 
personal regard. It is to evince your attachment to the Constitution, and your just 
alarm, at wnatever threatens to weaken its proper authority, or endanger its existence. 

'Gentlemen, this could be hardly otherwise. It would be strange, indeed, if the 
members of this vast commercial community should not be first and foremost to rally 
for the Constitution, whenever opinions and doctrines are advanced hostile to its prin- 
ciples. Where, sooner than here, where louder than here, may we expect a patriotic 
voice to be raised, when the union of the States is threatened? In tliis great com- 
mercial emporium, at this central point of the united commerce of the United States, 
of all places, we may expect the warmest, the most determined, and universal feeling 
of attachment to the national Constitution. Gentlemen, no one can estimate more 
highly than I do, the natural advantages of your city. No one entertains a higher 
oiiinion than myself, also, of that spirit of wise and liberal policy, which has actuated 
the Guveiiiment of the State in the accomplishment of high objects, important to the. 
growth and prosperity both of the State and the city. But all these local advantages, 
and all this efih^;htened State policy could never have made your city what it now is, 
without the aid and protection of a General Government, extending over all the 
States, and establishing for all, a common and unifcjrm system of commercial regu- 
lation. Without national character, without public credit, without systematic finance, 
without uniformity of commercial laws, all other advantages possessed by this city. 



l-IFE OF DANIKL WEBSTER. 63 

wouiii have decayed mid perished, hke unripe fruit. A General Governnient, wan, fur 
years before it was instituted, the i^reat object of desire to the inhabiiaiits of this city. 
New Vorli was conscious of her local advantages for eovnmercs, — she saw her des- 
tiny, and was eaj^er lo embrace it; but nothinj^ else than a General (lovernnient 
could make free lier path before her, and set iter forward on her career. She early 
t;aw all this, and to the accotnplishnient of this great and indispensable object, she 
bent up every faculty, and e.Kerted every etfort. She was not mistaken. She formed 
.no false judfinient. At the iiionient of the adoption of the (Jonstilution, A'ew Vork. 
was tlie capual of one State, and contained thirty-two or thirty-three thousand people. 
It now contains moie than two hundred thousand people, and is justly regarded aa 
the commercial capital, not only of all tlie United States, but of tlie wtiole'continent 
also, from tiie Pole to the Soulii Sea. F.very page of her historv, for the last forty 
years, bears high and irresistible testimony to the beneiits and blessings of the Gen- 
eral Government. Her astonishitig growth is referred to, and quoted, all the world 
over, as one of the most striking proofs of the etiects of our Federal Union. To 
suppose her now to be easy and indifTerent, wiien notions are advanced lending toils 
dissolution, would be to suppose her equally forgetful of the past, and blind to the 
present, alike ignorant of her own history, and her ovvn interest, metamorphosed 
from all that she has been, into a being tired of its prosperity, sick of its own growth 
and gre.itness, and infatuated for its own desiruction. Every blow aimed at the union 
of ihe States strikes on the tenderest nerve of her interest and her happiness. To 
bring the Union into debate, is lo bring her own future prosperity into debaie also. — 
To speak of arresiing the laws of theUnion, of interpijsing Slate power in matters 
of commerce and revenue, of weakening the full and Just authority of the General 
Ginerninent, would be, in regani to thus ci;y, but aiiotlier mode of speakin-i of com- 
mercial ruin, of abandoned wharves, of vacated houses, of diminished and dispersing 
ponnlation, of bankrupt merchants, of mechanics without employmeni, and laborers 
without bread. The growth of this city, and the Consiitution of the irniied States, 
are coevals and contemporaries. They began together, they have Houiislied together, 
and if rashness and folly destroy one, the other will follow it to the tomb. 

'Gentlemen, it is true, iiidecd, that the growth of this city is extraordinary and 
almost unexampled. It :s now, I believe, si.xteen or seventeen years, since I first saw 
it. Within that c(jmparatively short period, it has added to its number liiree times 
the whole amount of its population when the Constitution was adopted. Of all things 
having power to check this prosperity, of all things potent to blight and blast it, of all 
things capable of compelling this ci'y to recede as fast as she has advanced, a dis- 
turbed government, an enfeebled public authority, a broken or a weakened union of 
the States, would be sovereign. This would be cause efficient enough. Every thing 
else, in the cominon fortune of comnniniiies, she may hope to resist, or to prevent. — 
That would be fatal as the arrow of death. 

'Gentlemen, you have personal recollections and associations, connected with the 
establishmeni and adoption of the Constitution, which arc necessarily called up on an 
occasion \\\w this. It is impossible foforget the prominent agency which eminent cili- 
zens of vour own fultilled, in regard to tiiat great measure. They are now recorded 
fimong tlie illustrious dead : but they have left riaines never to beiorgolten anonever 
to be remembered without respect and vetieraiion. Least of all can they be forgotten 
by yoii, when assembled here for the puri'ose of signifying your attachment to 'he 
Constituiion, and your sense of its inestiriiablc importance to the happiness of the 
people. 

' i slioiild do violence to my own feehngs, gentlemen, I think I should (iffend your.'', 
if I omitted respectful mention of great names, yet fresh in your recollections. How 
Ci>i) I stand iiere, to speak of ihe ♦ 'onstitulion of the United States, of the wisdom 
of its provisions, of the dilTieuUies aitending its adoption, of the evils from which it 
r'^scued the country, and of the pr.;speriiy and powi.'rto wliieh it had raised it, and yet 
pay no tribute to tho.-e who were highly instrumental in accomplishing the work'! — 
while we are here, to rejoice that it yet stiinds firm and strong; while we congratu- 
late one another (hat we live under its benign influence, and cherish hopes of its long 
duration, we cannot forget who they were that, in thi; day of our national infancy, 
in file times of despondency and despair, mainly assisted to work out our deliverance. 
Islvjuld feel that I disregarded the strong recollections which the occasion presses 
upon us, that 1 was not irue to graiilude, not true to patriotism, not Irue to ilie living 
or the dead, not true to your feelings or my own, if I should forbear to make inentiim 

of Ale.xandek jT,\M1LT0X. 

'Coming from the military service of his country, yet a youth, but with knowledge 
aiid maturity, even in civil aflairs, far beyond his years, he matle this city the place 
of bis adoption ; and he gave the >^'hole powers of his mind to the contemplation of 
tlie weak and distracted condition of the (touniry. Daily increasing in acquaintance 



64 LIFE OF DAMEI. WEBSTER. 

and confidence with the people of this city, he saw, wliat tiiey also saw, the absolute 
necessity of some closer bond of union for the States. This was the great object of 
desire. He appears never to have lost sii^lit of it, but was found in the lead, when- 
ever any thing was to be attempted for its accoijipiishinent. One txpcrmient after 
another, as is well known, was tried, and rdl failed. The States were nrjrently calhd 
on to confer such further powers on tlie old Congress as would enable it to redeem 
the public faith, or to adopt themselves some general and common principle of com- 
mercial regulation. But the States had not agreed, and were not likely to agree. In 
this posture of aflTaiis, so lull uf public difficulty, and public distress. Commissioners 
from five or six of the States met, on the rtcjuest of Virginia, at Annapolis, in Sep- 
tember, 1786. The precise object of their appointment was, to take into consideration 
the trade of the United States; to e.\amine the relative situations and trade of the 
several States; and to consider how far a uniform system of commercial regu- 
lations was necessary to their common interest and permanent harnior:y Mr. Han. - 
ilton was one of these Commissioners; and I have understood, though I cannot 
assert the fact, that their Report was drawn by him. His associate from this state 
was the venerable Judge Benson, who has lived long, and still lives, to see the hap- 
py results of the counsels which originated in this meeting. Of its niembers, he 
and Mr. Madison are, I believe, now the only survivors-. These Commissioners re- 
commended what took place the next year, a general Convention of all the Stales, 
to take into serious deliberation the condition of the country, and devise such provi.s- 
ions as .should render the Constitution of the Ftiliial Government adequate to tbe 
(•.\igencies of the Union. 1 need not rti.MUid you, that of this Convention, Mr. Ham- 
ilton was an active and efficient member. The Ctmstitution was Iramed, and sub- 
mitted to the country. And then another great work was to be undertaken. 'I'he 
Constitution would naturally find, and did find enemies and opposers. Objections 
to it were numerous, and powerful, and spirited. They were to be answered ; and 
tiiey were, etFectually answered. The wiiters of the numbers of the Fed(ralist, Mr. 
Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Jay, so greatly distinguished themselves in their 
discussions of the Constitution, that those immbeis are generally received as impor- 
tant commentaries on the te.xt and accurate expositions, in general, of its objects and 
purposes. Those papers were all written and published in this city. Mr. Hamilton 
was elected one of the distinguished delegation from this city, into tlie State Con- 
vention at I'oughkeepsie, called to ratify the new Constituiiou. Its dt bates are pub- 
lished. HMr. Hamilton appears to have exerted, on this occasion, to the utmost, every 
power and faculty of his mind. 

'The whole cjiiestion was likely to depend on the decision of New York. He felt 
the full importance of tlie crisis; and the reports of his speeches, imperfect as they 
p.'-obably are, are yet lasting monuments to his genius and patriotism. He saw at 
list Ills hopes fulfilled; he saw the Constitution adopted, and the Go\'errimcnt undi r 
ii established and organized. The discerning eye of Washington immediately calk d 
iilm to that post, infinitely the most important in ihe administration of the new sy.-^- 
tem. He was niade Secretary of the Treasury; and how he fultilled the duties e>f 
sach a place, at sucli a time, the whole country pere( ived wiih deiiiiht, and the whole 
world sav/, with admiration. He smote the rock of the national resources, and abun- 
dant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corj'se of the Public 
Credit, and it S|irung upon its feet.— The fabled bliili of JMineiya Irom the brain of 
Jove, was liardly more sudden, or more perl'ecl than tin; financial system of the I'ln- 
ti'd States, Inirsi forth from the conci^ptioiis of Ale.vamler Hamilton. 

' Y'oiir recollections, gentlemen, your n sped, and )our atii^ctious, all conspire to 
bring before you, at such a time as this, another great man, now, loo, luiml.ered wiih 
the dead. 1 mean the pure, the disinterested, the patriotic John Jay. His character 
IK a brilliant jewel in the sacred treasures of iialioiial ie|iiitaiion. Leaving his profes- 
siim at an early [leriod, yet in)t before be had singularly distinguished himself in ii, 
from the commencement of the Revolution, his whole life, until his final retlremeni. 
was a life of puldic service. A member of the fust Congress, he was the author ef 
that political pajier which is generally acknowledged to stand first among the incom- 
parable productions of that body: papers, wliieh called forth that deei8i\e strain of 
commendation from the great Lord ('hathain, in whiitli he pronounced them not inf. - 
rior to the finest productions of the master state smen of the wcnid. He had been 
abroad, and he had also been ]on;t intrusted with the diflicult duties of our foreign 
correspondence at home. Jf(^ had seen and felt, in the fullest measure, and to the 
j^ealest possible e.vrrni, the dliheuliy of coiidueiing our foreign aflaiis, honorably an>l 
usefully, without a stron<rer tind more perfect Union at iiome. Though not a niem- 
iier of llie Convention wbieh framed ilic Constitution, be was yel present while it was 
in session, and lookeil an.xiously for its result. By the choice of ibis city, he had a 
Beat in the State Convention, and took an active and zealous part for ib.- adoption 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 65 

of the Constitution. He was selected by Washington to be the first Chief Justice of 
ihe United States; and surely the high and most responsible duties of tliat station, 
could not have been trusted to abler or safer hands. It is the duty, one of equal un- 
portance and delicacy, of that tribunal, to decide constitutional questions, arisnig oc- 
casionally on State laws. The general leanung and ability, and especially the pru- 
dence, the mildness, and the firmness of his character, eminently fitted Mr. Jay to 
be the head of such court. When the spotless ermine of llie judicial robe fell on John 
Jay, It touched nothing not as spotless as itself. These eminent men, gentlemen, 
the contemporaries of soine of you, known to most, and revered by all, were so con- 
.spicuous in the framing and adopting of the Constitution, and called so early to im- 
portant stations under it, that a tribute, better, indeed, than 1 have given, or am able 
to give, Seemed due to them from us. There was yet another, of whom mention is to 
be made. In the revolutionary history of the country the name of Chancellor Liv- 
ingston became early pronuncnt. lie was a member of that Congress which declared 
Independence; and a member, too, of the committee which drew and reported tlie 
iinmortal Declaration. At the period of the adoption of the Constitution, he was its 
firm friend and able advocate. He was a member of the State Convention, being 
one of that list of distinguished and gifted men, who represented this city in that body; 
and threw the whole weight of his talents and infiuence into the doubtful scale of the 
Constitution. 

'Gentlemen, as connected with the Constitution, you have also local recollection.-? 
whicii must bind it still closer to your attachment and aflection. It commenced its 
bemg and its blessings here. It was in this city, in the midst of friends, an.\ious, 
hopeful, and devoted, that the new Government started in its course. To us, gentle- 
men, who are younger, it has come down by tradition, but some around me are old 
enough to have witnessed, and did witness, the interesting scene of the first Inaugu- 
ration. They remember what voices of gratified patriotism, what shouts of enihiisi- 
astic hope, what acclamations, rent the air— how matiy eyes weresufl'uscd with tears 
of joy— how cordially each man pressed the hand of him who was ne.xt to him, when, 
standing in the open air, in the centre of the city, in the view of a?seinblcd thousands, 
the first President was heard solemnly to pronounce the words of his official oath, re- 
peating them from the lips of Chancellor Livingston. You then thought, gentlemen, 
that the great work of the Revoluticm was accomplished. You then felt that you had 
a Government— that theL'mted States were then, indeed, united. Every benignant star 
seemed to shed its selectest influence on that auspicious hour. Here w( re heroes 
of the Revolution; here were sages of the Convention ; here were minds, disciplined 
and schooled in all the various fortunes of the country, acting now in various relations, 
but all co-operating to the same great end, the successful administration of the new 
and untried Ccuistitution. And he— how shall I speak of him'?— he was at the head, 
who was already first in war — who was already first in the hearts of his countrymen ; 
and who was now shown also, by the unanimous suflrage of the country, to be first 
in peace. 

'Gentlemen, how gloriovisly have the hopes, then indulged, been fulfilled! Whose 
expectation was then so sanguine— I may almost ask whose imagination then so ex- 
travagant, as to run forward and contemplate as probable, the one half of what has 
been accomplished in forty years? Who among you can go back to I7s0, and see 
what this city, and this country too, then were— and then beholding what they now 
are, can be ready to consent that the Constitution of the United States shall now be 
Weakened, nullified, or dishonored? 

'Gentlemen, before I leave these pleasant recollections, I feel it an irresistible im- 
pulse of duty to pay a tribute of respect to another distinguished person, not, indeed, 
a fellow citizen of your own, but associated with those I have already mentioned, in 
important labors, and an early and indefatigable friend and advocate in a great cause 
of the Cpnsiitution. Gentlemen, I refer to Mr. Madison. I am aware, gentlemen, 
that a tribute of regard from me to him is of little importance ; but if it shall receive 
vour approbation and sanction, it will becoine of value. Mr. Madison, tliaidts to a 
kitid Providence, is yet amotig the living, and there is certainly no other indivi(lual 
living, to whom the country is so much indebted for the blessings of the Constitution. 
He was one of the Commissioners at .\nnapolis, in 17>ii;, at tlu^ meeting, of whicli I 
have already spoken ; a meeting, which to the great credit of Virginia, had its origin 
in a procei^ding of that State. He was a member of the Convention of l~-^ii, and 
ofthat of Virginia the following year. He was thus intimately acquainted with the whole 
progress of tlie formation of the Constitution, from its very first step to its final adop- 
tion. If ever man had the m.eans of understanding a written instrument, Mr. Madi- 
son has the meaiis of understanding the Constitution. If it be possible to know what 
was designed by it, he can tell us. It was in this city, that in conjunction >vith Mr. 
Hamilton and Mr. Jay, he wrote the numbers of the Federalist : and it was in this 

6* 



66 LIFE OF DANIET. WEBSTER. 

city that he commenced his brilHant career, under the new Constitution, havinj; been 
elected into the House of Representatives of the first Congress. The recorded votes 
and debates of those times, show his active and efficient agency in every important 
measure of that Congress. The necessary organization of the Government, the ar- 
rangement of the Departments, and especially the paramount subject of reveime en- 
gaged his attention, and shared his labors. The legislative history of the first two or 
three years of the Government is full of instruction. It presents, in striking light, the 
evils intended to be remedied by the Constitution, and the provisions which were 
deemed essential to the remedy of those evils. It exhibits the country, in the mo- 
ment of its change from a weak and ill-defined confederacvof States, into a general, 
efficient, but still restrained and limited government. It shows the first working of 
our peculiar system, moved, as it then was, by master hands. 

'Gentlemen, for one, I confess, I like to dwell on this part of our history. It is 
good for us to be here. It is good for us to study the situation of the country at this 
period, to survey its difficulty, to look at the conduct of its public men, to see how 
they struggle with obstacles, real and formidable, and how gloriously they brought 
the country out of its state of depression and distress. Truly, gentlemen, these foun- 
ders and fathers of the Constitution were great men, and thoroughly furnished for 
every good work. All that reading and learning could ilo, all that talent and intelli- 
gence could do, and what perhaps is still more— all that long experience, in difficult 
and troubled times, and a deep and intimate practical knowledge of the condition of 
the country could do, conspired to fit thcni for the great business of forming a general, 
but limited government, embracing common ohiects, extending over all the States, 
and yet touching the power of the Stales no farther than those common objects re- 
quire. I confess, I love to linger around these original fountains, and to drink deep of 
their waters. I love to imbibe, in as full measure as 1 may, the spirit of those who 
laid the foundations of the governu.ent, and so wisely and skilfully balanced and ad- 
justed its hearings and proportions. 

'Having been a.'"terwards, for eight years. Secretary of State, and as long Presi- 
dent, ]\Ir. JIadison has had an experience in the afTair's of the Constitution, certainly 
second to no man. More than anv other man living, and perhaps more than any 
other who has lived, his whole public Vife has been incorporated, as it wire, into the 
< 'onstitiition ; in the original conception and- project of attempting to form it, in its 
actual framing, in explaining and recommending it, by speaking and writing, in as- 
sisting at the first organization of the Government under it, ruul in a long adminis- 
tratiiui of its executive powers, in those various ways he has lived near the Constitu- 
tion, and with the power of imbibing its tiiie spirit, and inhaling its vt-ry breath, from 
its first pulsation of life Again, therefore, I ask. if he cannot tell us what the Con- 
stitution is, and what it means, who can? He had retired with the respect and re- 
gard of the community, and might naturally be supposed tu)t willing to interfere again 
in matters of political concern. He has, nevertheless, not withholdcn his opmions 
on the vital question discussed on that occasion, which has caused this meeting. He 
has stated with an accuracy almost peculiar to himself, and so stated, as, in my opin- 
ion, to place almost beyond further controversy, the true doctrines of the C'onslitu- 
tion. He has stated, not notions too loose and irregular to be called e\cn a lluory. — 
not ideas struck out by the feeling of present inconvenience or supposed inal-admin- 
istration, — not suggestions of expediency, <ir evasions of lair and straight-forward 
construction,— but elementary principles, clear and sound distinctions, and indispen- 
sable truths. I am sure, gentlemen, that I spi ak your sentiments, a.s well as my 
own, when I say, that for making public so clearly and distinctly as he has done, his 
<nvu opiniiJiis on these vital nucslions of Constitutional law, j\lr. Aladisoii has fminded 
a new and strong claim on the gratitude of a grateful country. You will think with 
nie, tliat at his advanced age, and in the enjoyment of tieneral respect and approba- 
tion, for a long career of public services, it was an act of distinguished patriotism, 
when he saw notions i)romulgatcd and maintained, \\hieh he deemed iiusoimd and 
dani;eroun, not to hesitate to come forward, and to place the weight of his own opin- 
ion in what he deemed the right scale, come what might come. I am sure, gentle- 
men, it cannot be doubted,— the manifestation is clear,— that the country feels grate- 
fully the force of this new obligation. 

'Gentlemen, what 1 have said of the benefits of the Constitution to your city, might 
be said, with little change, in every other part of the country. Its benefits are not 
exclusive. What has it left undone, which anv Government could do, for the whole 
country? In what coiulition has it placed us? Where do we now stand? Are we 
elevated or degraded by its operation ? What is our condition under its influence, at 
the very moment when some talk of arresting its imwer and breaking its unity ? Do 
we not feel ourselves on an enunence ? Do wi> not challenge the respect of liie whole 
world? What haa placed U8 thus high 7 What has given us this just pride? What 



LIFE OP DAMEL V.'EBSTFR. TJ 

else is it, but liie unrestrained and free operation of (hat game Federal Constitiiiioii, 
\vhich it has been proposed now lo hamper, and manacle, and nullify 7 Who is there 
among us, that should find himself on any spot of the earih, where luunan heinjjs 
exist, and where the existence of other nations is known, that would not be proud to 
say, I am an American'? 1 am a countryman of Washington? I am a citizen of 
that Republic, which, althougli it has suddenly spnmg uji, vet there are none on the 
globe who have ears to hear, and have not hi-ard of U,— who have eves to see, and 
have not read of it, — who know any tiling, and yet do not know of iis e.vist 'nee and its 
glory ?— Arid, gentlemen, let nie now reverse the picture. Let nie ask, who there is 
among us, if he xwre to he found to-morrow in one of the civilized countries of Europe, 
and were there lo learn that this goodly form of Government had been overthrown,— 
that the United States were no longer united,— thai a death-blow had been struck 
upon their bond of union,— that thev themselves had destroyed their chief good and 
their chief honor,— who is there, whose heart woidd not siiik within him ? Who is 
there who would not cover his face for very shame ? 

'At this very moment, gentlemen, our comitry is a genera! refr.ge for the distressed 
and the persecuted of other nations. Whoever is in afilicfion from jmhtical occurren- 
ces in his own country, looks here for shelter. Wlietlier lie be npiihli':ao, tiying from 
the oppression of t irones,— or whether he be monarch or rnontirchist. H>ing from 
thrones that cnimble and fall under or around hini,— he feels equal assurance, that if 
lie get foot-ho!d on our soil, his pei-son is safe, and his lights will be respected. 

■ Aiid who will venture to say, that in any Goveimueiii, now existing in tl'e world, 
there is greater security for persons or pro;)erty than in the United Stales ? We have 
tried these popular institutions in limes of great e.i:citement and comniolion; thev 
have stood substantially firm and steady, while the fountains of the great political 
<'eep have been elsewhere broken up ; v\ Idle thrones, resting on a-'<^s of proscriiilion, 
have tottered and fallen ; and while, in oih.-r coimti-ies, the earthiiuake of unrest! aiiii d 
popular commotion has swallowed npall law. and all lil)erty, and all rit'ht togetht i', 
our Government has been tried in peace, and it has been tried in v.ar, and hasprovn! 
itself fit for both. It has been as<;iiled from wiiliout, and successfiillv resi.-ied the 
shock; it has been disturbed within, and has efleciually quieted the distuibance. Jt 
can stand trial,— it can stand assault,- it can stand adversity,— it can stand every 
thing but the marring of its own beauty, and the v.'cakening of its own strength.— It 
can stand every thing, but the eflects of our own rashness, and our own folly. It can 
stand every thing, but disorganization, disunion, and nnlhficution. 

"It is a striking ("act, and as true as it is sirikinir, that at this vervinoincnt, among all 
the iJiinc'p;d civilized States of the world, ttiat Government is most secure against the 
danger of popular commotion, which is itself etitirelv popular. It seems, indeed, that 
the submission of every tlimg to the public will, under Constitutional restraints, im- 
posed by the people themselves, furnishes, itself, security that that will desire nothing 
wrong. 

' Certain it is, that popular Constitutional liberty, as we enjoy it, appears, in the 
present state of the world, as sure and stable a basis for Government to irst upon, as 
any Government of enlightened States can find, or does find. Certain it is, that in 
these times of so much popular knowledge, of so iinich popular activity, those Gov- 
ernments which do not admit the peojije to piirtake in their adnnnistration, but keep 
the people under and beneath, sit on materials for an e.vplosion, which may take place 
at any moment, and blow thein into a thousand atoms. 

'Gentletnen, let anv man who would deu:radc and enfeeble the national Constitu- 
tion,— let any man who would nullifv its laws, stand ftn-th and tell us what he would 
wish. What does he propose? Whatever he may bo, and whatever substitute he 
inav hold lorth, I am sure the people of this country will decline his kind interference, 
and liold on by the Constitution which thev posse.'^.s. Anv one who would willingly 
destroy it, I rejoice to know would be lookerl upon with abhorrence. It is deeplv en- 
trenched in the regards of the people. Doubth .ss, it inav be nnderinincd bv arifii! and 
long coiituiued hostility ; it may be imperceptibly weakened bv secret attack ; it mav 
be insidiously shorn of its ijoweis by slow degrees ; the public vigilnnce may be hilled, 
and when it awakes, it may find the Constitmion liiinitd away. In these niodes, or 
some of them, doubtles.s, it is possible that the union of the States may be dissolved. 

' Rut ii the general aUeniion of the peoi>ie he kept alive,— if thev see the intended 
mischief before it is etiected, they will e/leciuilv [ireveiit it bv their own sovereign 
power. Thev will interpose themselves between'the iiu dilated blow, and the object 
ot their regard and attachment. (Gentlemen, next to the controlling authority of the 
people themselves, the preservation of the Government is mainlv committed to those 
who adniinisierit. If conducted in wisdom, it cannot Init stand strong. Its genuine 
original spirit is a pafnoti(r, lil)eral, and ^jcnnrous spirit; a spirit of coneili.-ition, of mod- 
eration, of candor, and charity ; a spirit of fiiendnhip, and not a tpirif of hoBiditv, with 



68 LIFE or DA.MEl. WKESTER. 

the States ; a spirit, careful not to exceed, and equally careful not to relinquish its just 
powers. While no interest can or ou,i;ht lu I'eel iiriell siuit out fjoiii the btnetils of Che 
Constitution, none should consider those benefits as exclusively its own. The inter- 
ests of all must be connected, and reconciled, and provided lor, as far as possible, 
that all may perceive the beneiits of a uniled Government. 

' Among other things, we are to remember that, since the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion, new States have arisen, possessing already an !mmens;e population spreading; 
and thickennig over vast regions, which were a wilderness when the Constitution was 
adopted. Tliose states are not like J\'ew-York, directly connected with mariume 
commerce. They are entirely agricultural, and need markets for consumption, and 
access to those markets. It is the dury of the Government to bring the interests of 
these new States into tlie Union, and incorporate them closely in the family compact. 
Gentlemen, it is not impracticable ti^ reconcile these various interests, and so to ad- 
minister the Government as to make it useful to all. It was never easier to adminis- 
ter the Government than it is now. VVe are beset with none, or with few, of its ori- 
ginal difficulties; and it is a time of great general prosperity and happiness. Shall wo 
admit ourselves incompetent to carry on tlie Government, so as to be satisfactory to 
the whole country? Shall we admit that there has so little descended to us of the 
■wisdoin and prudence of our fathers ] If the government could be administered in 
Washington's time, when it was yet new, when the country vyas heavily in debt, when 
foreign relations yvere threatening, and when Indian wars pressed on the frontiers, 
can It not be administered now ? Let us not acknowledge ourselves so unequal to 
our duties. 

'Gentlemen, on the occasion referred to, it became necessary to consider the judi- 
cial power, and itsproper funclioiis under liieConstitution. inevery free and balanced 
Government, this is a most essential and important power. Indeed, I think it is a 
remark of Mr. Hume, that the administrati n of justice seems to be the leading object 
of institutions of Government; that Legislatures assemble, that armies are imbodied, 
that both war and peace are made, with a sort of ultimate relerence to the proper ad- 
ministration of laws, and the judicial protection of private rights. The juthicial power 
f omes home to every man. If the legislature passes incorrect or unjust general laws, 
,iis members bear the evil as well as others. But judicature acts on maividuals. It 
touches every piiyate right, every private interest, and almost every private feeling. 
What we possess is liardly fit to he called our own, unless we feel secure in its possts- 
bion ; and this security, this feeling of perfect safety, cannot exist under a wicked, or 
£vcn under a weak and ignorant administration of tne laws. There is no happiness, 
there is no liberly, there is no enjoyment of life, unless a man can say when he rises 
in the morning, I shall be yubject to the decision of no unjust judge to-day. 

'But, gentlemen, the Judicial Department under the Consiitution of the United 
Ptatcs, possesses still higher duties. It is true that it may be called on, and is occa- 
sionally called on to decide questions, which are, in one sense, of a political riaiure. 
The General and State Governments, both established by the people, are established 
for difltjrent purposes, and with diflerent powers. Between those powers questions 
may arise, and who shall decide them'; Some provision for this end is al)sohitely 
necessary, — What sliall it be ? This was the question belbre the (.'onvention ; and 
various schemes were suggested. It was foreseen, that the States might inadvert- 
ently pass laws inconsistent with the < 'onslilulion of the United Slates, or with acts 
of Congress. At least, laws migbl be passed, which would be charged with such incon- 
Bistency. How should these questions be disposed of 7 Where shall the power of 
judging, in cases of alleged inierferencc, be lodged 7 One suggestion, in the Conven- 
tion, was to make it an executive power, anil lo lodge it in the hands of the President, 
by requiring all State laws to be .submitted lo him, that he might negative such as he 
thought apijcared repugnant to the general Constitution. 'J'his idea, perhaps, may 
have been borrowed from the power exercised by the crown, over the laws of the Co- 
lonies. It would ((videiitly have been not only an inconvenient and troublesome pro- 
ceeding, but dangerous, also, to the powers of the States. It was not pressed. It was 
thought wiser and safer, on the whole, to require Slate legislatures and State judges to 
take an oath to supjiort the Constitiiiion of the United Slates, and then leave the 
States at liberly to p;iss whalevi'r laws they pleased, and if interl'erence, in points of 
•fact, should arise, to refer tlie (piesiion to judicial decision. To this end, the judicial 
noNver, under the Constitution of tlie Unitwl Slates, was made co-extensive with the 
legislative power. It was exieiuleillo ail eases arising under the Consiilution and 
the laws of Congress. The Judiciary became thus possessed of the authority of de- 
iciding, in the last resort, in all cases of alleged in tert'erunce, between State Laws and 
the Onistilution, and laws of Congress. 

'Gentlemen,— This is the actual C'onslitution,— This the law of the land. There 
Uiay be thoee, who think it unneccbsary, or who would prefer a diffcicnt mode of dc- 



UVF. OF UANIEL MF,HSTI:R. C9 

cidmc; suuVi riite^tVons. Rut this is the estabilshcd mode, and til! it be altered, ilie Conns 
can 110 more decline their duty, on tl'.ese ocf asions, liian on other onfiisionp. Hut, 
gentlemen, ean any rc-asonahle man doiiht the expediency of this provision, or sii,irf;C'''t 
a better? Is it not absolutely essentia! to the pea^e of tiie country, that this power 
shotdd exist soinewhrre? Where can it exist Ix^tter tiian where it now Aoi^ exist'? 
The national Judiciary is the roninion tril/unal of the whole louiitry. It is orjcani'/ed 
hy the cornnion authority, and its places fille/1 hy ihe common agent. Tiiis is a plain 
and practical provision. It was framed by no btin^lors, nor by any wihi theorists. 
-And who can say, that it has failed? Who can find substantial fault with its opcTa- 
tioii or its results ? The s^rcat question is, whether we shall provide for the peaceable 
decision of cases of coilisioii. iShall they be decided by iaw, or by force? Shall the 
decisrions be decisions <if peace, or decisions of war? 

■■ On the occasion referred to, the pr'jpositioii contended for, was^ I'nat every Stat!% 
under certain supposed exigencies, and in certain siip[X)Bed cases. mi?ht d.-cide for it- 
self and act for itself, and opf>ose itsuwii force to the execution of tlie laws, dy '.vha! ar- 
gument do you imagine, .^ei;tlenicn, it was, that such a proposition was mriiiitaincd ? I 
should call It metaphysical, and suijtle; but these terms would imply at Last in.i^eniiity, 
and sonsedei^reeof plausibility 4 v\hercasthe;ngr.ment appears to mc pbtin assumption, 
mere perverse construction of plain language, in the body of the Confititution itseJfl 
As I understand it, when put forth in its revised and niost authen'ie shaiie, it is thifi; 
that the Constitution provides, that any Einendmeiits may be made to it, vvluch shall 
he agreed to by three-fourths of the States; there is, tlicreforc, to be nothing in the 
('onstitution to which three-fourths of the States have not agreed. All this' is true: 
but then comes this inference, viz. ; that when one State denies the consiitutionj:li<ir 
■of any law of Congress, she may arrest its execution as to herself, and keep it arrested, 
till tlie States can all be consulted, by ti;eir conventions, and ihr-ee-fonrihs of them 
■shall have decided that the law is constitutional. Indeed the interference is still sirdii- 
ger than this ; for State Conventions have tio r-.uihority to construe the (Constitution, 
though they have authority to amend it; therefore the argument must prove, if it 
prove anything, that when any one State denies that anv particular povier is included 
m the Constitution, it is to be considered as not included, and cannot be found there., 
(ill thr£e-fourtks of the States agree to insert it. In short, the result of the whole is, 
that though it requires three-fourths of the States to insert any thing into tlieConsti- 
tiuion, yel&rjy cne State can str.ke any thing out of it. For the powiT to strike out, 
•and the power of deeiding, without anpeal, upon the construction of what is already 
in, are substantially and practically tli=» same. 

'.ind, gentlemen, what a spectacle ehouW we have exhibited, under the acttial op- 
eration of Ruiions like these? At the very moment when our Crovernment w;ts 
<;uotefl, praised, ainl comnien;led all over th// world ; when ihe friends of R(^pu1i]ii an 
Liheily, every wher-s, were ga-.'.ing at it with dr.Ii-hi, and were in perfe-et admiral ion a5 
the harmony of its movements, one State steps forth, and hy rue pow< r of nnliifii'ii- 
lioo, breaks up the whois eysteni, and scatters the bright chain of the Union into as 
many sundered links as there are pepnrnte States! 

' Seeing the true grounds of the Constitution thus flttackt^d, T raisptl my voice in 
hs favor. I must conT'Ss, with no preparavio.'i, or previous intenliun. I can hardly 
fay ih«it I enjhprked in the contest from a s nve of <iuty. It was an instanttineou's 
iiKpnlse of iRclination, nni aetiag again.st duty, I tnisl, txn iiardly waiiii'g for its sug- 
gestions. I felt it to bi: a contest for the integrity of the Constiii'tioii : and I was 
feady to enter into it, not thinking, or caring, personally, how I might come out. 

'(Jenllemen,— -I have true pleasure in saving, that 1 trust tli.' crisis has, in some 
frwjasiire, passed by. Tiwdoctrinea of nullirt.eation have reeeiveil a si'vere and stein 
r-^bulce from public opinion. The general rci)ro!mtion of the country has bern ca ;t 
tipon them. Receut expressions of ih<! most nunterous branch of the national legis- 
J.ftin-eare deci<ive and iutposing. F.verv wi-;cre, the general tone (jf public feeling is 
i:n the <Joi!siitutioii. VVhde tnuch will be ne'.dfd, every thing alino-t but the integ- 
rity of the (Joiistitution, and the essential int rests of the country, to the cau.so of 
jimtKHl harniony, aiKl mutual fon-ciliation, no gronnd run be granted, not an inch, to 
iiienaee and bluster. Indeed, nienace, and Iduster, and the putting forth of daring 
;Mi\euisstitulJi)nal d-octrines, are, ai this v<-ry moniv^nf, the chief o'.istades to mutual 
iiarmony, and satisfactory accoininodat.'jii. Men cannot well reason, and confer, 
and take counsel together, about the disereet exercist! of a j)Ower, witli those who 
deny that anv«uck power rightfully f.xists, and who threaten lo blov.' up the whole 
Oidstitution, if they cannot otherwise -get rid of its operation. It is matter of sin- 
*;isre gratification, gentl. uien, (liat the vo4<-e of this great State has be>^n so clear nnd 
fnroiig, and her vote, all hut iinaiismous, on the most interesting of lhes<> occasions, 
in the House of Representatives, t'ortairdv such reppeet to the Union becomes >i'«w 
V-ofk. I '. is consLsteat sviih be/inieresi.s i.nd her fharactev. That .-iingu'.arly proeper- 



70 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

ous State,— which now is, and is likely lo continue to be, the greatest link in the 
chain of the Union,— will ever be, it is to be hoped, the strorigestlink also. The great 
States which lie in her neighborhood agreed with her fully in this matter. Pennsyl- 
vania, I believe, was loyal to the Union, to a man ; and Ohio raises her voice, like 
that of a lion, against whatsoever threatens disunion and dismemberment. This 
harmony of sentiment is truly gratifying. It is not to be gainsaid that the union of 
opinion, in this great central mass of our populaiion, on this momentous point of the 
Constitution, augurs well for our future prosperity and security. 

' I have said, gentlemen, what J verily believe to be true, that there is no danger to 
the Union from open and avowed attacks on its essential principles. Nothing is to 
be feared from those who will march up boldly to their own propositions, and tell us 
that they mean to annihilate powers exercised by Congress. But, certainly, there 
are dangers to the Constitution, and we ought not to sluii our eyes to them. We 
know the importance of a firm and inlelligent Judiciary ; but how shall we secure 
the continuance of a firm and intelligent Judiciary? Gentlemen, the Judiciary is in 
the appointment of the executive power. It cannot continue or renew itself. Its va- 
cancies are to be filled in the ordinary modes of executive appointment. If the time 
shall ever come, which Heaven avert ! when men shall be placed in the supreme tri- 
bunal of the country, who entertain opinions hostile to the just powers of the Consti- 
tution, we shall then be visited by an evil defying all remedy. Our case will be "past 
surgery." From that moment the Constitution is at an end. If they who are ap- 
poililed to defend the caslle shall betray it, wo betide those within ! If I live to see that 
day come, I shall despair of tlie country. I shall be prepared to give it back to al! 
its former at!hctions, in the days of the confederation. I know no security, gentle- 
men, again.^t the possibility of this evil, but an awakened public vigilance. I know 
no safety, but in that state of public opinion which shall lead it to rebuke and put down 
every attempt, either to gratify party, liy Judicial appointments, or to dilute the Con- 
stitution, by creating a court which shall construe away its provisions. If members 
of Congress betray their trust, the pto|ile will find it out before they are ruined. If the 
President should, at any time, violate his duty, his term of office is short, and popular 
elections may supply a seasonable remedy. But the Judges of the Supreme Court 
possess, for very good reasons, an independent tenure of ofTice. No election reaches 
them. If, with this tenure, they betray their trusts. Heaven save us ! Let us hope 
for better results. The past, certainly, may encourage us. Let us hope that we shall 
never see the time when there shall exist sucli an awkward posture of afi'airs, as that 
the Government shall be found in opposition to the Constitution, and when the guar- 
dians of the Union shall become its betrayers. 

' Gentlemen, our country stands, at the present time, on commanding ground. 
Older nations, with different systems of government, may be somewhat slow to ac- 
knowledge all that justly belongs to us. But we may feel, without vanity, that Amer- 
ica is doing her pait, in the great work of improving human afiairs. There are two. 
principles, gentlemen, strictly and purely American, which are now likely to overrun 
the civilized world. Indeed they seem the necessary result of the progress of civili- 
zation and kn(nvledge. These are, first, popular Governments, restrained by written 
Constitutions; and, secondly, universal education. Poinilar Governments and gen- 
eral education, acting, and re-acting, mutually producing and re-producing each other, 
are the mightv agencies which, in our days, appear to be exciting, stimulating, and 
changing civilized societies. Man every where is now found demanding a participa- 
tion in Government ; and he will not lie refused ; and he demands knowledge as 
necessary to self-government. On the basis of these two princiiile.*;, liberty and know- 
ledge, our own American System rests. Thus far we have not been disappointed in 
their results. Our existing institutions, raised on these foundations, have confcrreci 
on us almost unmixed liiijtpiness. Do we not hope to better our condition by change '? 
Wheii wc shall have nullilied the present Constitution, what are we to icct-ive in its 
place? As fathers do we wish for our children better Governnient, or better laws ? 
As members Of society, as lovers of mir country, is there any thing we can desire for 
it belter than that, as ages and centuries roll over it, i' may possess the same invalu- 
able institutions which it now enjoys ? For my part, genth^nen, I can only say, that 
I desire to thank the beneficent Author of all good, for being born n-heri: I was born, 
and wkcn I was bom ; that the portion of liuiiuui existence, all(;ttcil to me, has been 
meted out to me in this goodly land, and at tins interesting period. I rejoice that I 
have lived to see so much developement of truth,- so much progress of liberty,— so 
niiich ditlusion of virtue and happiness. And through good report atul evil report, it 
will be mycoiisdlaiion to be a citizen of a Kepublic, unequalled ui the annals of the_ 
■world, lor the freedom of its institutions, its high prosjierity, and the prospects of 
tzood which yet lie befori' it. Our course, gentleuu n, is onward, straight onward, and 
forward. Let us iu>t liini to the right baud nor to the Iti'i- Our path is marked oul 



LIFE OF DAXIIM. WEBSTER. 71 

for us, clear, plain, bright, distiiicily defined, like the milky- way across the heavens. 
IC we are true to our country, in our day and generation, and those who come after 
us shall be tr\ie to it also, assuredly, assuredly, we shall elevate her to a pitch of pros- 
perity and happiness, of honor and power, never jct reached by any nation beneath 
the sun. 

' Gentlemen, before I resume my seat, a highly gratifying duty remams to be per- 
formed. In signifying your sentiments of regard, you have kindly chosen to select 
as your organ for expre.-sing ilu'm, the eminent person near whom I stand. I feel, I 
cannot well say how sensibly, the manner m which lie lias seen fit to speak on this 
occasion. Gentlemen, if I may be supposed to have made any altainment in the 
knowledge of constitutional law, he is among the masters in whose schools 1 have 
been taug'.it. You see near him a distinguished magistrate, long associated with him 
in judicial labors, which have conferred lasting benefits, and lasting character, not 
only on the Stale, but on the whob; cuiintry. (xentlemen, I acknowledge myself 
much their debtor. While yet a youth, unknown, and with little e.xpectation of be- 
coming known, beyond a very limited circle, I have passed days and nights, not of 
tedious, but of happy and gratified labor, in the study of the judicature of the State 
of New York. I am most happy to have this opportunity of publicly acknowledging 
the obligation, and of repaying it, so far as it can he repaid, by the poor tribute of 
my profound regard, and most sincere good wishes. 

"' Gentlemen, I will no longer detain you, than to propose a toast. ' 

' "The city of New York ; herself the noblest eulogy on the Union of the .States." ' 

On reviewing the numerous publiriuions of JMr. \N'ebster, wo are astonished at the 
amount of his labors; and particularly vvlifU we ri^flpci that these published speeches 
are, in fact, but a small part of what might have been brought out, if he would have 
consented to have them issue from the press. Those we have, abound in useful in- 
formation, and have a direct bearing upon the welfare of the country. He has made 
liimself master of our history, and that of other countries, to develop the principles 
on whicli our Republic is founded ; he makes use of every fair argument to enforce 
these principles, and spares no pains to explain thi^ni to tlie humblest capacity. No- 
thing has escaped him in the rise and progress of our countrv to that prosperity and 
dignity to which she may justly lay claim. His is a profound view of things,— from 
the river he has ascended to thii fountain, and tasted of the waters as they guslied 
from the mountain side. He has put the Governments and laws of all ancient time 
into the alembic of his mind, and the crude earths, and meaner minerals are separated 
from the precious ores. These writings are .so full of matter, and that so useful, that 
they will form a text-book, and an anthoritv on all great constitutional (jucstions in 
time to coinc. These writings have all a liigli moral cliaracter. There are no local 
feelings, — no sectional views,— which make r'arty-strifc, and injure the dignity of a 
people, wherever and whenever tluy are indulged; — they relate to the country, — to 
the whole country, — and not for any particular portion of time, but now and for ever. 
Kvery thing about his works is moral ; his politics, — his history,— his science,— and 
his letters, are marked by a strong morality, — one intimately connected withyh!7/(, 
hope, and charity, the constituents of religion. 

His works are invaluable, as models for our rising generations of public men, wlio 
arc to give us laws in lime to come, and direct the destinies of the nation. His works 
arc chaste, and someumes severe, in their style of composition ; direct, nervous, and 
commanding; full of vigor,— Roman vigor. There are no relaxed muscles,— no fee- 
ble spots about them,— in their motion, or their repose, they exhibit the spirit of anti- 
quitv. He asks for no other inspiration than that which flows from the fountains of 
truth, as opened by the Genius of History. Elevated by the copious draughts he has 
drank, he gathers lessons of wisdom from the course of time, and pours them out 
for his country.- that country whose glories are wound around his heart, and burn 
upon his lips, a living flame. 

It IS common for men to find resemblances where none exist, and to run parallels 
where there are no resemblances. 'I'he moderns go back to the ancients, and each 
great man finds his prototype m the ages which have past. The writer of these re- 
marks will not ransack the pages of ancient history for resemblances, but simply ask 
permisMon of the reader to quote the following observations upon the great Athenian 
orator, and his works, made by two of the best critics of the present age.— Chalmers 
and Blair,— and then leave the reader to find what similarity he may between the 
American and Grecian orator. 

"these orations are strongly annrated, and aboimding with the impetuosity ani 
fnre-of public spint. The figures which he uDes, rise naturally from the pubject, and 
are employed sparingly, for epiendor and ornament, do not disiinguish the composi- 
tiorxs of EWnosf hents. His chsracier. aa ap orator, d'-nends upon aii energ.' of thought 
peculiar tij'himfieh" which elevates him above all othtrs. Thin>,'s, not wbrd^appty 



72 LIKE OF PAMEL, WEBSTER. 

To be the obiects of hiH uftesition. He has iinpaisds and ostenfafion ; no criefUiirl.-i- 
of ins-'irmatjon ; no laboverl introductions; but iike a man fully posbf-ssed by his sub- 
ject, after prtparing his audience by a ai-ntencc or two for hearms plain truthy, he en- 
ters directly on busniess, warrain.^ the mind, and impellinc; to action. 

' His style is strong and concise, though soinetimeP, it nmst not be dissembled, 
harsh ami abrupt. His words are very e.vpressive; his arranp-ement is firm and 
manly; and though far from being Hnniusicai, yet it seems difficuji to find in him 
liuit studied but concenle<l ifumbrr and rhythtn, which ?ome of the ancif-nt critics 
are fond of attributing to him. Ne.gligent of these leaser graces, one would rather 
conceive him to have arrived at the sublime, which lies in seniiment. 

' His action and pronunciation are recorded to have been nnco-mmonly yehemenJ 
ftnd ardent; which from the manner of his composition, we are led to believe. He 
is, on every occasioti, grave, serious, pass.iiinatp, taking every tiling in a high tone ; 
never lets himself down, nor attempts any thing like pleasantry. ]f any fault can 
be found with his admirable elofiueiice, it i.s, ihat he sometimes borders on the 
hard anrl dry. He may be thought to want smootlmrss and grace; which Dionysiua 
of Halicarnassns attributes to his iniitaiing too closely the mannfr of Thucydides, 
who was ins great model for style. Bi;f these defect.? are far more than compensated 
by his admirable and masti rly force of masculine eloquence, which, as it overpowered 
all wlio hoard it, cannot at this day be read without emotion !' 

^Vhcn he came to Boston, he could not have been ranked among the first scholars 
of our country, speaking in a general sense ; for there were many in his own circle- 
of friends before him in classical learning, who had spent their days and nights upon 
Greek and Roman literature. Perhaps Tie had not f^Ii this before. He could not, in 
liis busy course, have been profound in ancient learning; but his pride and his taste 
cnme to his aid, and he commenced the study of the classics with the ardor of yoiul; 
in the maturity of his judgment; and such devotion at the shrine of Apollo and the 
Muses, is always blessed by the god. These acquirements gave a mellowness and 
finish to his speeches and writings, which they had not possessed so conspicuonsly* 
before. Like Lionardo da Vinci, he added to the niagnificenee of his earlv desiguV 
all the gatherings of his experience and the improvements of his taste. This is tho 
noblest proof of true genius. It is seldom that bold outlines are patiently finished iip- 
This was, pi'rhaps, in no small ni<',a?urc, owing t(j his now position ; for the siluatioi! 
of every man has much to do vviih his e;iertions, and in the ^-ini with his rrputaJi&n. 
even if it does not absolutely alter his character essentially. If it be true, that 

' Pigmies are piamies ■ till tliou^Ii jilaced on alp.'. 
And pyramkis are pyramids in val«-s,' 

yet, wlicn the latter are placed on an'eminencc, their morning and erenjiig shatfows 
are cast at greater length, and the vast piles are seen, in all their magnificence, at n 
much greater distance than if plained in vales. Coming to the metropolis of New 
England, he was indeed set upon a hill. It was a happy exchange of place, for he 
was mane for that city and that city for him. There he seems to be as great a fa- 
vorite as Pericles was in Athens; and for aught I can see, his power and infiucnco 
arc likely to continue as long. For fifteen years if has been wa.xing apace without 
feeling a particle of Mjimlnution. It is now and then said, by those u.«;ially croaking 
oil the left, llint Iii.s measure of popularity has reached its acme,— that it is impossiblo 
it (.'an last much kmger. All this is because they have seen one favorite go down af- 
ter another and pass away ; but it is impossible that he should become unpopular 
wliilo he retains the powers of his mind, and continue.<? his exertions for the honor of 
his country. To forget him and hi^ services, would be worse than ostracising the 
just Atheiuan. He has tlie charm which will always retain its power over the p< ople 
where he lives,— the influence of domestic, social, and n ligious virtues, added to the 
powers of his understanding. No poor man ever asked him f()r pecuniary' or profes- 
sional aid in vain ; and his liberality to institutions of learning is well known. 

Rut to speak more particularly of his mental endowments. He is not wanting in 
originality, —that power of surprising and leading the mind upon some new tract ; he 
seeks, however, for nothing novel or maivellous, whatever he might do in that way ; 
he rnakes no su^li attempt.s. - The truths he would (>nforce or ilhistrate, are good old- 
fashioned truths, some of which are ' so long remembered they're forgot.' These he 
would enforce on the public mind by every power he possesses,— these he believes 
are the palladium of our country, in her advancement in the scale of nations. His 
whole soul is di^voted to them ; and at all times, and in every place, he dwells on them 
with might and main. He is prepared for the herculean duty. His mernory is strong, 
and iins been well stored with facts, nnd is pregnant with political life ; aiid those 
stores of knowledge are all laid up in admirable otder, ready for use as occasion ma>- 



LIKE OF DANILL WEBdTER. 73 

require. From Uiese stores he li:is drnwn ropiously, in all his speeches before the 
public, and that with so uiiich tailhluliiess and fuiicity, that liis hearers have been as- 
lonishe I that they iiad never seen our Hue iiit-rests in such a stroni? lisht before. The 
highest genius of man is but to ^ive a more correct image of truth than wear; ac- 
customed to see. J 1 . 

His early friends say, that liis imasinaiion wasoiiec of a hieh order, and that he 
wrote poet rv,— vigorous, ruaidv ijoetry, — wlieiiever he chose; aid as further proof of 
the strength of his famv, they produce a snlendui eulogy delivered by him on the 
death of a. ('lass-mate, when m college. This produrtion has the gorgeousness of 
youthful fancy about ir, and was full of pathos. It was, for years, considered by the 
students as an extraordinary composition, the most splendid that was ever heard 
within colletce walls. Portions of it wore recited as incontestable proofs of gcnms, 
long after Mr. Webster hid left his alma mater. Hut if imagination was then his 
most striking characteristic, it is not so now. The severe discipline which, in pre- 
paring for the liar, he put himself under, soon destroyed the inspirations of the Muse, 
or rather incorporated her sacred fire with 'he common masses of lawand politics 
he was constantly forging out for public use, on his assuming the losfu rh-ilU aniung 
his fellow-citizens. Every one was astonished, on his first appearance, at the close, 
vigorous and mature style of his speeches, when they expected something of the 
glowing and imaginative kind, from so youthful a genius. , • , , 

That" power of l.'e mind, whatever metaphysicians may call it, whieii looks over 
the utmost extent of a subject at a glance; tliat which grasps all its near and remote 
bearings, and comprehends its dependencies and relations; and that winch can throw 
out all tlie results of reasoning upon it to the public in the smallest eompas.s of time, 
is his, pre-eminently hi.s. It may be called genius, judgment, talent, any thing, no 
inatter what ; it is greatnes.s, mental greatnes.s and will have its influence under all 
circumsiances. Its strength is felt and acknowledged, when no analysis ot it can be 
readily given. Whether this power comes in the gentle dews, falls in the refreshing 
shower, or sweeps over you in the whirlwind, or communes syith you in the siill stnad 
voice, it is power, tlivi. e power, and belongs only to gifted minds. 

There are men who say that Mr. Webster has been over-rnted ; that his qualities 
ore seen lhrom,'li the medium of admiralion and pariiality. This is not true. Then- 
can be no doubt but that same of his overweening friends have, at times, for want of 
discernment, spoken of his ordinary efforts at tiie bar, and other places, as wonder- 
ful productions, comparing tiiein wiih his higher ellorts and claiming for them the 
most unbounded praise, and branding all with envy and injustice who did not unite 
with them /o /.'!.•;/!(// ay. The greatest minds are sometimes common-place ; it is 
i!npossil)le to keep always on the wing, and in upper air, and Mr. Webster is too wi.'se 
to always attempt it. Some things should pass oil' as common-place ; hut there ars 
those who will not suffer it to be done. It is wrong to look only to his orations on 
great occasions for his proudest effjrls. These are noble conipositions, powerful dis- 
cussions of the subject in hand, abounding in strength, pertinent remarks, and sin- 
king illustrations, and in our admiration of them we would not yield one jot to any- 
one; but after all this, ihn' are not, perhaps, his most felicitous productions. He can- 
not lash himself into enthusiasm or pa-sion, and wake his soul to its utm jst power 
in the closet. To put out all his strength, he requires excitements that he cannot find 
there. He must be roused by some spirit of emulation, rivalry, or honest resentment, 
to do his best; he must be awakened by the ery. that 'the PhiUstini'.s' are upon Ihei,' 
before the strengih of his seven locks are felt. It is before a court and iury, or in the 
deliberate as.sembly, that the full extent of his power can be understood. It is when 
they compass him in, that he arises in his might, and takcf< the doors of the gales of 
the city, and the tiro iios-t.% bar and nil, and removes them where he pleases. 

His manners at the bar, and in the delii>erative assendily are peculiar. He begins 
to state his poin's in a low voice, and in a slow, cool, cautious, and philosophical 
manner. I." the case is of any huportanco, he goes on. hammering out, link by link, 
iiis chain of ariiumenl. with ponderous blows, leisurely inllicted; and while thus at 
labor, you rather s-e ihe sinews of the arm, than the skill of the artist. It is in reply, 
that he comes out in the majesty of intellectual grandeur, and lavislies about him the 
opulence of intellectual wealth; it is when the darts of the enemy have hit him, that 
he is all might and soul; it is then that lie shower.s down words of weight and fire. 
Hear liim ihen, and you will say, ih.it his el -qience is f dinded on no model, ancient 
or moflern, however strong may lie the resemblance to any of them ; that he never 
read the works of a master for imitation ; all is his own. exci-llences and defects. He 
resembles no American orator we have ever heard ; he does not imitate any one m 
the remotest degree ; neither tiie Addisonian eloquence of Alexander Hanulton, which 
was the day-spring in a pure and vern d atmosphere, full of health and beauty; nor 
'loes he strive fur the sweetness of I'isiier Ames, whose heart, on all great occasion^, 

7 



74 UFE OF DAMFI, WEBSTER. 

grew liquid, and he could pour it out like v'aUr. Anips waved the wand of the en- 
chantress, and a Paradise arose, peopled wiili ethereal beings, all enijaged in pursuins 
an immortal career. Not so with Mr. Webster. He works upon earth, on the busi- 
ness of men. Air, water, all the elements are at his command, all vassalsof his will. 
and over these his sway is herculean. All is of mortal birth, but of gigantic propor- 
tions; his labors are not numbered by dozens, nor cimfined to the destroying of mon- 
sters ; or changing the beds of rivers ; but in serving his fellow-men involved in dif- 
ficulties, and in erecting national monuments for the present, and for future ages. 

He never strives to dazzle, astonish, or confuse, but goes on to convince and eon- 
qiicr by great but kgitimalc means. When he goes out to battle, it is without s-quire, 
aid-de-camp, or armor-bearer, although hundreds are ready to take any part about his 

Eerson. In his conflict he trusts to no arm but his own, he rests only on the stati'of 
is own spear. He asks for no trophies but his own conquests ; he looks not around 
for the laurel of victory ; but it falls from the hands of all, and binds his brow, until 
lie goes out again on some new exploit. 

I believe it may be said of hiin, that he never shows any of that vanity in debate, 
which belonged to the very nature of the great Fatlier of Roman eloquence, and was 
cofispicuousln all his public acts. But if he never said with him, 'video patres con- 
R(n-ipt!, in me omnium ora atqiie occnlus esse conversos,' yet, from his swelling vein.s 
and curled lip, you would judge that he had no small share of that sin 'for which fell 
the angels;' but this lofty carriage and haughty look lasts only while the fit is on hmi 
to repel what he conceives to be some indignity offered to his client or his cause. 

■Some of his admirers talk of his wit in debate. There is often a piquancy and gird- 
ing retort in his arguments, tiuit by some may be called wit ; but it is not the wit of 
Sheridan, or of any professed v/it ;' nor that wit which s['aikles out, and illumines 
the subject under discussion, and seems to be the ofi'spring of tlie moment ; but is a 
matter of long and previous delibeiation, perhaps of frequent rehearsal. Instead of 
those pyroieelinics of the war of words, Webster's speeches abound in the burnnig 
intensity of that heat which sheds a flash of light around, such as we see proceeding 
from a glowing mass of iron, when drawn by a powerful arm across the anvil. In 
the United Slates, there have been, and there n<nv are, men of some one or more 
qualifications, superior to any single trait of Mr. Webster's mind. Some have more 
learning, some have a sweeter voice, others have a more refined taste, and not a few, 
more imaginaliou ; but in the combination of all lliese powers, he has no equal. lie 
s<'izcs his sulijec!, turns it to the li^ht, and, however dilTicult, soon makes it familiar; 
however intricate, plain 5 and with a sort of supernatural pos\er, he iwsscfses his 
hearers, and controls their oiiinions. His friends yield at once with a delighted wil- 
hn.gness, and his opponents give up after a few iuteilectual struggles ; even those who 
talk on against hitn, show that their tones are altered, and that they are conscious 
of the victory he has achieved over them, and the thraldom in which ihey are placed. 

The '' rcindanlts draconcs' after he has brushed the svvarni of flies away, soon 
become quiet in his grasp. 

There are many, and those too of no little intelligence, who think, and avow their 
opniions, that the present race of politicians is iiderior to that which has just passed 
away; and to account for their opinions, they say it rcqtiires less talent to administer 
a government than to make a Constitution, and less energy to cultivate peace than 
to fight out a revolutionary war. We are iiot converfs to this iloeirine. To equi- 
poise the General Government with Slati' rights j to keep all safe on the waves of 
jiarty violence' ; to keep the great States from infringing on the rights of the small ; 
and to take care that no State should oppress its own citi'/.eiis, isqiiileas hard a task, 
and requires as much mind, iirudence, labor and calculation, as diil the great w'ork of 
the precedinggeiu'ration— that of establishing national independence, and fi.xing upon 
a form <jf popular government. The growth and resources of a couiitry — its capacity 
for improvements- its riches in soil ami forests, in waters and mines, give ample 
Hcope for the niinfl of the statesman who extends his views over the v^lioli\ and irilo 
alt that relates to his country. I!iit what great mind can rest satisfied with exploring 
the physical capacitii^s of a country (uily ? Will he not look to the cultiv:ition ol the 
intellectual faculties also, as the only means of preserving national virtues and liberal 
firinciples'.' 'I'he best manner of producing the highest mental cultivation, is a sub- 
ject of deep considerati(m ; of quite as imich imi)ortanci\ and re(juinug as high powers, 
as the ellorts of spreading a c(Uist:lution on pajier. ICvery day ihe character of a people^ 
as well as that of an individual, is undergoing some change; and every shade of 
change must be watched by a sagacious politician, if he would prepare himself to be 
useful to the public. 

The fields of know Irdge are rapidly increasing in nninber and extent ; and there are 
subjects enough for the most powerful and devoted sttilesman to grapple with in the 
longest life. It takes a good head as well as .a pure heart to make a patriot ; and a 



l.lFi: «iF DANIEL WF.BSTF.R. 75 

^ooil shave of acquiremrnl ad.lcil to tliut to mnko a Ktalesman ; and to brine out an 
iiiflueiUial politician, he sliould suiurudd an active zi^al anci a good practical know- 
iiids^e of business. Tlie shallow, lavin,:^, fuming politician, pivoted on self, with short- 
sii;hted views, who deals out saws, and parrots luaxiiii.s ; whose general knowledge 
is drawn from tlic rotten pliilosophy of party Jonrnals ; attempts to assume, and often 
does take the place of the pure politician. How long does he keep it. Perhaps long 
enough to answer his purpose— to gel money oiit of ins devotion to the cau.<e ; but he 
ran secure no honest fame— he passes away wth the day. The hour that consigns 
liim to (he grave gives him up to oblivion ; or if remembered at all, it is only through 
the medium of his defects. These politicians, if they can be so called without violence 
to language, I grant, ought not to be iiained with those \\ ho assisted to establi.-^h our 
independence, to form our t-onstitutions, or frame our early laws ; but thosf! wlui, at 
the present time, are acquainted with the science of govexnnient and the history of 
nations; who add new beauties to the uistittitions of the government, by patient de- 
velopeirient, and give the Constiiution lunv strength, by judicious and profound exjiia- 
nations; and who break down en or and falsehood \<ith arguments drawn from prac- 
tical experience, are a.-- great, as imporiaiii, as useful, as those wlio devised ami or- 
ganized our e.vcellent form uf governnieiit. In fact, there are more re(iiiipiiiotis ou 
sagacity, talent and knowledge now, than there werein the earlier days ol our Re- 
pubhc. A hundred can quarry, square, smooth and polish the stones of the ca[.itol, 
to one who can throw an arch" to support tlie dome, or sculpture an image to adorn 
ii.s walls. There is no period of lime in which all the niind wediave i.s not required 
for public and private uses, though at some epoi'lis it is more valued than at oihers. 

Mr. Webster's enemies say that he is ambitious. This will not he denied by his 
friends. But can there be such a thing as a statesman without ambition '.' F.yen the 
martyr's bosom is not free from ambition ; for he looks to the crown of glory in ano- 
ther world. There can be nothing great or good without ambition. We will not 
quarrel about the term ; we mean by ambition, that zeal and energy for doing some- 
thing worthy of life; that determination of leaving some mark upon the age in winch 
we live, that may be called our own; that purpose of alleviating S(jrrow- of anieliora- 
ting hardships— of enhancing blessing.s— of elevating the huinble— of humbling the 
proud, that is what should be called ambition ; and why should we not be ambitious? 

That Mr. Webster has failings, no one will deny ; for vyhat mortal ever e.vistcd 
without them ? But his failings are not such as injure his faculties or impair his use- 
fulness. -Some may complain of his coldness ; oihers of his forgetfidn.'ss -foi-^etting 
themselves, that one known to so many, cannot retnenibrr all who know him; and 
some think that he is not sufficiently ready to ackiupwledge their merits; but they 
shoulil remember that tlie nil udviiruri is fr. qiu'iitly an ingredient in a statesman's 
haiiit.s, if not in Ins creed, and must be forgiven. Hut after all (jur speculations and 
feelings upon the subject, justice in making out her balance-slieet, should allow quite 
as much for the jealousies of ilie uiedioeie and tin- little, as for the i;nldness of the 
great. The one is a sin of omission, anrl the other of commission, but they grow out 
of the nature of tilings, and must be eiiflured. 

Mr. VVel>Rler has been, say lusopponenis, a most fortnnaie man. No one is dispo- 
ned to dispute this ; but'he has had nothing in bis course to elevat.- him v.hieh might be 
culled accident ; siicii accidents as have no relation or bearing on the character ol the 
individual benefited by those accidents; all he has experienced has been the legili- 
iiiate cijusequcnce of capacity, atiainini-nts, and wc^ll devised plans. U>- lias not 
been raised, as many seconj-rate men have been, lui the billows of party suite, and 
carried to the pinnacle olpower by chance; and when down, e.xcite only wonder at 
their ever having been elevated. Mr. Webster has had no honor given htm ihat he 
Jias not deserved -he has bad no honor, that if taken awav would diminish bin rep- 
utation. Throw liiin high and drv in a storm, and he would as easily launch again, 
as the eagle eould lift his wings from his resiing-place to sail in upper regions. _ 

Hv has Haltered no set of men for their mrtueiice, nor truckled to any in othce for 
their patrouagi'. He has n.sked for nothing in the gift of government, nor turned his 
eves for a moment on an office in ilu ir power to bexiow. On his constituenis alone 
br- has rest el for the p)u,-c lo staml to use bis powifis ; but even to these constiluenis 
he has made no idle nnnnises. He never tidd them that their .'suggestions should be 
his law, and ihat he lived only in their graces- ilie modern doctrine amonp candidates 
for seats in the nalimial legislature; but be has .^acriliced his repose and his comlorts 
to understand their wants and wishes, while re.serviiig his opinions to himse t. Ire 
lias labored hard to set wholesome laws enacted, wh.ii the old ones bore heavily upon 
any class of people in the coniiiiunity ; to thi' private claims of those norm or south, 
^ast or west, he has been liberal, when those claims were just and well toundeil. 
His consiiiiients v,-ere worthy of their representative ; fur putting entire conhdence in 
Jus wisdom, integrity and litinness, they gave liiiii no hints tor the government ol r.i3 



76 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

conduct in Congress; flunking, wisely, that lie knew better there, than they did at a 
distance, what course to pursue. . .... 

It is natural, when iniillectual and moral qualities are given to an individual by his 
biographer, for us to inquire .soniethin,:,' al)oui his person ; we want to know in what 
form these properties resided, for we fancy a thousand conne.xions between mind and 
body— between essence and sluipc--\i hicli may, or may not e.xist. The person of Mr. 
Webster is singular and commanding ; his height is above the ordinary size, about 
five feet eleven inches. He is broad across the chest, and stouily and firmly budt ; 
Ijut there is nothing of clumsiness either in his form or gair. His head is very large, 
his forehead high, v,hb good shaped temples. He has a large, black, solemn looking 
eye, that exhibits strength and steadfastness, which sometinies burns, but never 
sparkles. His lips, wlien his countenance is in repose, shut close— liavator's mark 
of firmness; but the changes of his lips nuike no small part of the strong and 
varied expressions of his face. His hair is of a raven black, of great thickness, and is 
generally worn rather short ; his head is as yet without a gray hair. His eye-brows 
are thick, more ilian commonly arched, and bu.shy : which, on a slight contraction, 
give his features the appearance of sternness. But the general expression of hLsface. 
after it is properly examined, is rather mild and amialile than otherwise. His move- 
ments in the Sei'iate chamber and in ll;e street are slow and dignified. His voice, 
once heard, is always rcmenibi red, but there is no peculiar sweetness in it ; its tones 
are rather harsh tliau.nuisieal ; still there is great variety in them ; some have a most 
startling penetration ;' others, of a softer character, catch the ear and charm it down to 
the inosi perfect attention. His voice has nothing of that monotony which fall.=; 
upon the ear, it may be heard all day without fatiguing the nndienee. His emphasis 
is strong, and his emnuiation clear, and so distinct that not a syllable escapes any 
of his hearers. The compass of his voice is so gi-cat, that it fills any room, bowevtr 
large, with perfect ease to himself 

The conversational talents of Mr: Webster are admirable; but what he says is 
spontaneous and extempore, not made up for any particular occasion, as the conver- 
sations of professed talkrrs and wits ar<', who come out to monopolize the eloquence of 
the drawing-room or of the banquet. There are times, however, when he awakes io 
alllheblandishmenis nf the social hour, and bears his part of the ctviia; Dmm with- 
out a rival; but this is not often. On a journey, or in a retreat from business, he 
throws aside all his grave habits of thinking, and mingles familiarly with those who 
are eaijabh; of giving or receiving any' inlormation ; ami his superiority is as fully ac- 
knowledged here, as in his public labors. Most distinguished statesmen are not fitted 
by education for promiscuous society. One of the evils attending great men in Eng- 
land and other aristocratic countries is, that they havi' but little acquaintance with the 
middling classes in society ; and many of them, from being educated privately, have 
never tried their corporealand mental strength with beings of their own age. When 
mind contends with mind, without any of the distinctions nf society, in a public sehoo), 
the powers of etich are very accurately measured, and the youth grows up vvilh a 
proper knowledge of his own capacity. Mr. Webster had every advantage for this 
intellectual diseiphnc. Horn among the yeomanry of New-Hampshire— a shrewd, 
inquisitive, communiealivc peoiili.— in: began to talk as soon as to think. Theproeess 
of an early education among them is c'lteejieticnl, and the youth is accustomed to 
learn, both by tmsvvering and putting (luestimis anuuig al! his friends, from his first 
orieuing a liook. Thus educated, ;i statesman has ;in acquaintance with all classesof 
men; he knows the views of every one on thegre;it (jue.'tionsof morals, politics and 
religion, from the highest to the lowest ; liir these subjects are freely discu,<sed by all. 
These early lessons of the ro(i<l nud the li/tirth of the sclioolroom and the vestry — 
are never forgotten ; they mingle in his rijier thoughls, and often innuence his nuiiure 
judgment. Primary instruction can never be efliiced ; it is incorporated with the 
growth of mind, and makes ti part of our intellectual character. 

It often haiifxns that mighty minds wetiken their energies and waste their time on 
subjects, perhtips pleasant to ihiin, but of no great use or importance to mankind; 
Imt it was not so with Mr. Webster, he h;is iiirned his attention to no subject in whieh 
his fellow-citizens were not deeplv intirested. He iias been industi-icuis at all times in 
wliat was directly useful in tbecciurse of his duties, or in acfiuiring what might assist 
him in preparing to discharge the ni. In eommimities st) newdy fornunl, and so rap- 
idly increasing as ours, till things that may be, in any way, used by way of instruc- 
tion, guide, or I'xample, are of great importance to the [leople. The pathway of 
genius in a new-born nation, is blazed from tree to tree, like that of the surveyors of 
new lands; and the boundaries he fixes, with tniih ;ind jiidginenl, become iierma- 
nent and sacred. What Hacon was to iihilosophy, Mr. VVebsU;r has been to the 
constitutioiKd law of his country. He has set it niiiui its true basis, and discovered^ 
the strength and beauty of the U.mon ; and, notwidistanding the doiibis and ftnvi- of 



LIFE OP DAMiX UTBSTKR. 77 

many, showed the fitness of the Constitution f.^r tho .luralion and prosperity of the 
Repubhc. 

A true lover of his country from principle, and defender of it from duty, lie has felt 
as much as any one the abuse wliicli has been beaprd upon it by Kuroptfans, partie- 
ularly by some score of travellers, who have himied throutih it, and saw just eiiou.iih 
to substantiate tlie fact that Ihev had put a foot on our sod, but knew noihiiiK' of us 
as a people. He has never railed on this subject, nor nturned their revilin^'s; but lie 
put in a more efleeiual answer to their false allesalions, by giviiit? his own works to 
the public. What better method could have been devised ? The sreat doctrines he 
has advocated, he has seen prevailiiii? among civili/ed man, and beeomin;,' paramount 
to all opposition. Public opinion has struck a blow, which makes every .uovernmeut 
in Europe tremble. In the confusion between frenzy arid fear, it is to be hojied that 
they will turn their eves to the lovely and permanent principles i)f constitutional law, 
as explained by our jurists and statesmen, and learn from the western world the 
practical lessons of freedom. 

On the basis of his own merits Mr. Webster may rest his fame, for those mi'rils are 
not accidental, or the irrowth of a few short years in p<dilical life. Xo sudden burst of 
popularity has carried him upwards to receive the plaudits of a nation, he nii.:;ht have 
mom .'itanly served, and which some sudden reverse of fortune miEilit as easily de- 
strov, and bring llie favoriie to tlie level of ordinary men. He is firmly csiablushed in 
the [it-arts of iiis eou'itrynieii, and the press has takeii his reputation into lastiiif; 
keeping. Jluch has necessarily been jj:iven to the passing hour, which will never bt; 
recorded ; a great portion of his labors as an advocate will not be remembered, but 
enough remains of his forensic and legislative exerticuis, fixed and settled, to estab- 
Jisli his repntatirn, and to preserve it through all the ages of this Republic. There is 
rut, thank God, ' no storied urn or consecrated bust,' to commemorate his talents or 
.u.s virtues, for he still lives in the strength of manhood 'and reason's prime,' to serve 
his country. But he has dime enough for fame; his reputation is already written 
upon tlie page of history. When a grateful country shall erect a temple for her wor- 
thies, he i>'ill stand a colossal figure for the pride of the nation, and the delight of 
those who love to conteinplale the finest efiljrts of liuiiiaii giMiius. 



i: 



ADDITION TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE LIFE OF WEBSTER. 

From the period which closed the first edition of the life of Mr. Webster, to the 
present hijur, Jlandi, 1^35, he has l>een constantly before the public in the perform- 
ance of his arduous and exalted duties. He lias pursued bis course with intiexible 
iiitegritv, approving the course pursued by the adniiiii.stration whenever lie<'oidd, anil 
feailessly opposing their measures when he conseientiously believed they were wrong. 
Every eye has been upon him, but he lias sacriliced nothing for a temporary pouiilar- 
ity, nor attempted to escape a measure of responsibilitv when he might if he ban been 
guided only by policy. He has protected the (y'onstiiution nl all hazards, and deserves 
to be considered its first champion by every part of the eommimity. 

On the 2.'>th and 'i.-^th of May, 1832, Mr. Webster delivered speeches in the Senate, 
upon the cjuestion of renewing the charter of the United States Bank. From the 
first, the followinsr extract is made. 

When Mr. Dallas, from Philadelphia, had sfioken on the bill, 'Mr. Webster said 
that though he was i.-ntirely satisfied wiih the gi'neral view taken by the C'liairinan of 
tlie C()mmiltee, (Mr. Dallas,) and with his explanation of the details of the bill, yet 
there were a few topics upon which he desired to olier some remarks ; and if no oth(>r 
gentleman wished at present to address the Senate, be would avail himself of this 
opportunity.' iVfr. Weh.-jier adverted to the origin of the Hank, antl g^ave a history 
of it, showing the objections made to its creation, and in what manner time had dispo- 
.•ed of them ; he then proceeded to discuss the main (luestion of the renewal of the 
ch.'irter. 

' The question now is, sir, whether this institution shall be enntimied ? We ought 
to treat it as a great public .subject; to consider it, like statesmen, as it regards the 
great interests of the country, and with as little mixture as possible of all minor 
motives. 

'The influence of the Hank, Mr. President, on the interests of the Government, and 
the interests of the People, may be considered in several points of view, it may be 
regarded as it affijcts the currency of the country ; as it afleels the cidleciion and dis- 
bursement of the public revenue ; as it respects foreiijn exchanges; as it respectb do- 

7* 



78 LITE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

mestic exchanges ; and as ii afiects, either generally or locally, the agriculture, com- 
inerne and nianuiaclun.'s ot' the Union. 

' First, as to the currency o!' the country. This is, at all time?,^ a most nnportant 
politicarohject. A sound currency is an essential and indis;iensaule security for the 
fruits of industry and honest enterprise. Every man of jiroperty or industry, every 
man who desires to preserve what lie honestly possesses, or to obtain vyhat he can 
liunestly earn, has a direct interest in maintaining a safe circulating medium ; such a 
riiediuiii as shall be a real and substantial representative of iMoperty, not liable to vi- 
brate with opinions, not subject to be blown up or blown down by the breath of specu- 
lation but made stable and secure by its immediate relation to that which tlie whole 
world'regards as of permanent value. A disordered currency is one of the greatest 
political evils. It undermines the virtues necessary f >r the support of the social sys- 
tem and encourages propensities desiructive of its happiness. It wars against indus- 
try fru"alitv and economv; and it fosters the evil spirits of extravagance and specu- 
lation "of all the contrivances for cheatmgthe laboring classes of mankind, none 
has been more elTectual than that which deludes them with paper money. This is 
the most effectual of inventions to fertiiiy.e the rich man's field by the sweat of the 
poor man's brow. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, excessive taxation, these bear lightly 
on the hapiiiness of the mass of the community, compared with fraudulent curren- 
cies and the robberies coiiiimtied by depreciated paper. Our own history has recorded, 
for our instruction, enough, and more than enough, of the demoralizing tendency, 
the iniustice, and the intolerable oppression, on the virtuous and well disposed, ol a . 
degraded paper currency, authorized by law, or any way countenanced by Govern- 

' We all know, sir, that the establishment of a sound and uniform currency was one 
of the great end's contemplated in the adoption of the present constitution. If we 
could now fully explore all the motives of those who framed, and those who sup- 
ported perhaps we should hardly find a more powerful one than this The object 
indeed is sufficiently prominent on the face ol the Constitution itself. It cannot well 
be questioned, that it was intended by that Constitution to submit the wnale subject 
of the currency of the countrv, all that regards the actual medium of payrneni, and 
exchan-'c whatever that should be, to the control and legisbition ol Congress, Con- 
cress can'alone com money-Congress can alone fix the value ot toieign coins. No 
8tate can coin moii v; no State can fix the value of foreign coins; no Statf (nor 
even Con-ress itself)' can make any thing a tender but gcdd and silver m the payment 
of debts;'no State can emit bills of cn;dit. The exclusive povver ot re-ulnting the 
metallic currency of the countrv would seem necessarily to imply, or, more properly, 
to include, as part of itself, a povver to decide how far that currency should be exclu- 
sive ; how far any substitute should interfere with it, and what that substitute should be. 
The 'generality and extent of the power granted to Congress, and the clear and well 
defined prohibitions on the States, leave hltle doubt of an intent to rescue the whole 
subiect of currency from the hands of local legislation, and tocoiitcr it on the Genera! 
Government. But, notwnlistanding this aiiparent purposi; in the Constitution, the 
truth is, that the currencv of the countrv is now, to a very great extent, practically 
and fcrtecUially under the control of the several State coveriiments, il it be noi more 
correct to sav, that it is under the control of the banking institutions, created by tne 
States; for t'he States seem fjrsl.to have taken possession ol the power, and then to 

have delegated it. ' . . ,, ■ ,• i i . •. , .i 

'Whether the Stales can constitutionally exercise this power, or delegate it to oth- 
ers, is a point, which 1 do not intend, at present, cither to concede or to argue. Il is 
much to be hoped, tiiat no controversv on the point may ever become necessary. 
Ihit it is matter highlv deserving of consideraiion, that although clothed by theCon- 
Ftitution with exclu'-ive power over the metallic currency, Congress, unless through 
the agency of a Bank established bv its authority, has no control whatever over that 
which, in the character of a mere riMiresentative of the metallic currency, fills up al- 
most all the channels of peeimiarv circulation. 

' In the abs(>nee of a I'ank of the United States, the State Banks become cftectn- 
ally the regulators of the imblic currency. Their mimbi'rs, their capital, ami the in- 
terests coiinected with them, give them, in that stale of tbin!;!s, a power winch no- 
thing is competent to control. We saw, therefore, when the late war broke out, and 
when there was no naiional bank in being, that the State institutions, of their own 
nuthoritv, and by an understanding among themselves, under the gentle phrase ol 
suspending specie pavmenis, everv wliere south of Aew Kiigland, rebised to redeem 
their notes. They were not called to answer for this violation of tht ir charters, a.s 
far as I remember, in any one State. They pleaded the urgency of the occasion, and 
the public distres.ses ; and in this apology the State Governments acquiesced. Con- 
Rrcss, at the same time, found itself in an awkward predicament. It held the whole 



LIFE OP DANIEL WEBSTER. 



power over coins. No State, or State institution, coulil f^ive circulation to an ounci; 
of sold or silver, not sanctioned by Congress. Yet all the Slates, and a hundred 
State institutions, claimed, and e.\ercised the right of driving coin out of circulntidn 
by the introduction of thuir own paper; and then of deprecianng and degradin.g that 
paper, by refusing to redeem it. As they were not institutions created by this Guv- 
ernment, thev were not answerable to it. Congress could not call them to accouni ; 
and if it could. Congress h.id no bank, of its own whose circulation coidd supply ni<; 
wanis of the community. Coin, the substantial constituent, wa.'^, and was admitted 
to be, subject only to the control ..f Congress ; but paper, assuming to be a reiiresenia- 
tive of this eonstltuenl, was taking great liberties with it, at the same time that it was 
no way amenable to its constitutional guardian. This suspension ot specie payments 
was, of course, immediately followed by great depreciation of the paper. It shortly 
fell so low, that a bill on Boston could not be purchased at Washington under an ad- 
vance of from twenty to twenty-five per cent. I do not mean to reflect on the pro- 
ceedings of the State banks. Perhaps their best justification is to be founf in the 
readiness with which Governnienl itself borrowed of them their paper, depreciated as 
it was; but it certainly becomes us to regard, attentively, this part of our experience, 
and to guard, as far as we can, against similar occurrences. 

' I am of opinion, sir, that a well conducted National Bank has an exceedingly use- 
ful and eflective operation on the general paper circulation of the country. I think lis 
tendency is inanifestlv to restrain, within some bounds, the paper issues of other in- 
stitutions. If It. be said, on the other hand, that these institutions, m turn, hold ni 
check the issues of the National Bank, so much the better. Let that check go to its 
full extent. An over-issue by the Bank itself no one can desire. But it is plain, thai, 
by holding the State institutions, v/hich come into immediate contact with itself aed 
its branchen, to an accountabilitv for their issues, not yearly or quarterly, but daily 
and hourlv. an important restraint is exercised. Beit remembered always, that what 
it is to expect from others, it is to perform itself; and that its own paper is, at all times, 
to turn into coin by the first touch of its own counter. ... , - , ,• . 

' But, Mr. President, so important is this object, that I think, that, far from dimin- 
ishing, we ought rather to increase and multiply our securities ; and 1 am not prLpared 
to say, that even with the continuance of the Bank charter, and under its wisest. ad- 
ministration, I regard the state of our currencv as enlirely safe. It is evident to me, 
that the general paper circulation has been extended too far tor the specie basis on 
which it rests. Our system, as a .system, dispenses too far, in myjudgment, with ilie 
use of gold and silver. Having learned the use of paper, as a substitute for specie, 
we use the substitute, I fear, too freely. It is true, that oar circu atmg paper is all re- 
deemable in gold and silver. Legally speaking, it is all convertd.le into specie at t le 
will of the holder. But a mere legal convertibiiiiv is not sufficient. 1 here must he 
an actual, practical, never ceasing convertibility. This, I ihmk, is not at present siil- 
ficiently secured; and as it is matter of high interest, it weh deserves the serious con- 
sideration of the Senate. The paper circulation of the country is, at this lime, proha- 
bly, seventv-five or eighty millions of dollars. Of specie, we may have twenty or 
twentv-two niillions; and this principally in masses, in the vaults of the banks. 
Now, 'sir, this is a state of things which, in my judgment leads constantly to over 
trading, and to the consequent excesses and revulsions, which so often disturb the 
regular course of commercial aflairs. A circulation consisting, m so grtat a degree, 
of paper, is easily expanded, to furnish temporarv capital to such as wish to adventure 
on new enierpnses in trade; and the collection in the banks of most of what specie 
there is in the countrv, aflbrds all possible facility for its exportation. Hence, over 
trading does frequently occur, and is always followed by an inconvenient, sotnetiines 
by a dangerous, reduction of specie. It is in vain tliat we look to the prudence ot 
banks for an effectual security against over trading. The directors ot such institu- 
tions will generally go to the length of their means in cashin.g good notes, and leave 
the borrower to judge for himself of the useful employment of his money. p.or wouia 
a competent security tigainst over trading be always obtained, if the hanks were to 
confine thiir discounts striedy to business paper, so denominated; that is, to notes 
and bills which represent real traiisactimis, having been given and receivi-<t, on tne 
actual purchase and sale of merchandise; because these transactions themsilves 
may be too far extended. In otlier words, more may be bought than the wants oi 
the community mav require, on the speculative calculation of future prices ,> en 
naturally have a good opinion of their own sagacity. He who believes mcrchan(Ji.«e 
is about to rise in price, will buv merchandise, if he possesses money, or can omain 
credit. The fact of actual purchase, therefore, is not proof of reallv subsistmg want ; 
and, of course, the amount of all purchases does not correspond always with ">•'«'"- 
tir« wants or necessities of the community. Too frequently it verv much exceeds 
that measure. If, then, the discretion of the banks, exercised in deciding the aniouni 



80 " LIFE OF DANIEL WKESTER. 

of llifir discounts, is not a proper securily against over trading; if facility in obtain- 
ing bank credits naturally fosters that spirit; if the desire of gain and love of enter- 
prise constantly cherish it ; and if it finds specie collected in the banks inviting expor- 
tation, what is the remedy, suited and adequate to the case? Now, I think, sir, that 
a closer inquiry into the direct source of the evil will suggest the remedy. Why have 
we so small an amount of specie in circulation? Certainly tlie only reason is, because 
we do not require more. We have but to ask its presence, and it would return. But 
we voluntarily banish it, by the great amount of small banknotes. In most of the Stales 
the banks issue notes of all low denonnnations, down even to a single dollar. How 
is it possible, under such circumstances, to retain specie in circulation? All experi- 
ence shows It to be impossible. The paper will take the place of the gold and silver. 
When Mr. Pitt, in the year 1797, proposed, in Parlianient, to authorize the Bank of 
England to issue one poimd notes, i\Ir. Burke lay sick at Bath of an illness from 
which he never recovered, and he is said tp have written to the late Mr. Canning, 
" Tell Mr. Pitt, that if he consents to the issuing of one pound notes, he must never ex- 
pect to see a guinea again." The one pound notes were issued, and the guineas dis- 
appeared. A similar cause is now producing a precisely similar effect with us. Small 
notes have expelled dollars and half dollars from circulation in all the States in which 
such notes are issued. On the other hand, dollars and half dollars abound in those 
States which have adopted a wiser and safer policy. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, Louisiana, and some other States, I think, seven in all, do not allow their banks 
to issue notes under five dollars. Every traveller notices the diH(;'rence, when he passes 
from one of these States into those where small notes are allowed. The evil, then, 
is the issuing of small notes by State banks. Of these notes, that is to say, of notes 
under five dollars, the anmunt now in circulation is, doubtless, eight or ten millions 
of dollars. Can these notes be withdrawn? If they can, thtir place will be imme- 
diately .supplied by a specie circulation of equal amount. The object is a great one, 
as ills connected with the safety and stability of the currency and may well justify 
a serious retleciion on the means of accomplishing it. May not Congress and the 
State Governinenis, acting, not unitedly, but severally, to the same end, easily and 
quietly attain it ? I think they may. it is but for other States to follow the good 
example of those which I have mentioned, and the work is done. As an induce- 
ment to the States to do this, I propose, in the present bill, to reserve to Congre.'is 
a power of withdrawing from circulation a pretty large part of the issues of the 
Bank of the United States. I propose this, so that the State banks may withdraw 
their small notes, and find their compensation in a larger circulation of those of a 
higher denomination. My proposition will be, that at any time after the expiration of 
the existing charter of the Bank, that is, after 1S36, (Congress may, if it see fit, restrain 
the Bank from issuing, for circulation, notes or bills under a given sum, say ten, or 
twenty dollars. This will diminish l!ie circulation, and, consequently, the profits of 
the Bank ; but it is of less importance to make the Bank a highly profitable uistitu- 
tioii to the stockholders, than that it should be safe and useful to the community, it 
ought not. certainly, to be restrained from the enjoyment of all the fair advantages to 
be dei'iveii from the discreet use of its capital, in banking transactions ; but the lead- 
ing object, after all, in its continuance is, and ought to be, not private emohiment, but 
public benefit. 

'It may, perhaps, strike some gentlemen, that the circulation of small notes might 
be efiectualiy discouraged, by refusing to receive not only all such sniall notes, bin all 
notes of such banks as issued them, at the custom houses, land otfices, post offices, 
and other places of public receipt, and by causing them to be refused also, either in 
payment or deposite, at the Bank of the United States. But the eflt-ct of such rcfii- 
sal mav be doubtful. It would certainly, in s(jine degree, discredit such notes, but 
probably it would not drive iheni out of circulation aliogether ; and if it should not 
do this, it nii"ht. very probably, increase theircireulation. If, in some degree they be- 
come discredited, to that degree they wo'jld become cheaper than other notes; and 
uiiiversal experience proves, that of two things which ma;, be current, the cheaper 
will always expel the other. Thus silver itself, because it is proportionally cheaper 
with us than gidd, has driven the gold out of the cuuntry ; that is to say, we can pay 
a debt of one hundred dollars, by tendering that number of Spanish or .Vmerican 
dollars. But we cannot go into the market and buy ten American eagles for thesi^ 
hundred silver dollars. I'hey would cost us a hundred and four. Thus, as we can 
pay our debts clu^aperin silver than in gold, we use nothing but silver, and the gold 
goes where it is more highly valued. The same thing always happens between two 
sorts of paper, which are /bund al the same time in chculalion. That which ischeap- 
fcr, or of less value than the other, always driv<,'s its more res|)ectable associate out of 
its company.' 

In the autumn of 1832, thepeopleof the Commonwealth of Massachusetts exhibited 



Liri: OF DAMEL WEBSTER. 81 

a strong, patriotic feeling, in regard to the situation of the country, and called a oon- 
vent'on, composed of delegates from all, or most of the towns in tlic Siiite. li was 
' an assembly of the best hearts' and highest niimis within her tervitorv. This \>od\ 
held their mealing at Worcester, on the 12th of October. Thev were "addressed hv 
many enlightened niiisds, but all waited with iutensr anxiety to hear Mr. Webster.- 
He came to his duty with deeper feeling than he had ever b<'fore exhibited in a publn- 
body. Hitherto in his remarks, if he had painted clouds and darkne'ss hanging over 
his country, he never closed his remarks without some Hashes of lightmn!i on tho 
right, to leave an augury of hope for the attentive listener, and full lieliever in tlie re- 
deeming spirit of the people; but now, he dwelt only upon our hold on the ("onstitu- 
tion as the ark of safety. This speech made a wonderful impression upon his audi- 
ence, and as our limits will not permit of making a long extract from it, we will ven- 
ture to insert an admirable notice of tliis address, which appeared in the Rssex Ga- 
zette, s<jon after it was delivered. It was believed to have come from the |)en of one 
well known in the annals of American literature, whose works have often been read 
and admired by his countrymen for many years. 

"In all ages, and in all countries, and in all parties, the great mass of political men 
have been moved by selfishness. Tiie object may have been laudable, pairiotic, aed 
even holy ; but iis advocates have discovered in the midst of their zeal for its atiani- 
nient, the lurking princirde of their action. Self-interest has blended with their (/v^K/r 
patria. The broad giocnd of their philanthropy has been eventually narrowed down 
to the single poini of self-aggraiulr/eiuent. 

'Occasionally however, an irdividual has been found standing out in ftdl relief :Voiii 
his contemporaries — too j'Ure for suspicion — too loity in his own intellectual powt.T to 
need that fictitious repuialion which is derived from the breath of others ; an in(livi<l- 
nal wearing his honors as the gift of Heaven, to whose nniive nobiliiy of soul no 
bmnan station could add dignity — depending on the powers which God had given 
him, and not on those delegated by man. And if at the present imie 1 were called 
npon to point out a living illustration of this truth, I should name with conlidence 
Daniel Webster. 

'I am a democrat— and the son of a democrat— and I trust I shall never desert the 
political faith of my fathers. But when I find such a man as Daniel Webster sneered 
at by the cou)iter/eit democracy o{ the day— when I hear the low vituperations of party 
malice heaped upon him— when I hear his noble ctlbrts in the cause of his country, 
answered by the epithet of "/cdn-alht," applied to him by men in most cases ignorant 
of its meaning — 1 feel, in common with every liberal mind, a contempt, a loathing 
and abhorrence of that party, wlialever may be its pretensions,' which justifii s such 
mean ingratitude and narrowness of teeling. I believe Mr. Webster to be a Repub- 
lican— ave, what is nicnc, an .4;/i(;;-ic(/?), heart anrl soul, t'all him if you will an Aris- 
tocrat ; he belongs only to that proud nobility, which heemen cherish- the Aristocracy 
of nature— God has made him what he is. Man could not do it ; all the titles in the 
Herald offices of Europe — the stars, the crowns, the garters could not. 

' The fust time I evc-r heard jMr. Web-ter was on the discussion of a dry question of 
law. Mr. Wirt was his antagonist. IJolh wercpowerliil — the former eiiiinentiy so— 
the latter, smooth, graceful, as might beseem the eloquent biographer of F^atrick 
Henry. But I confess I left the crowded court room with feelings of disapponument 
— anticipation had exceeded the reality. 

' At the late Convention of the National Republicans of Massachusetts at Worces- 
ter, 1 again heard Mr. Webster. The occasion was one of deep and engrossing inter- 
est. Between five and si.x hundred of our citizens, actuated by one common impulse, 
had assembled together from all sections of the State,— the Hepresenialives oi its 
inti-Uect and feeling. Thev had convened to nniintain the principles of th:.t Liherls', 
which their fathers were the first to cherish : not to snsttiin the interests of individ- 
uals — not as pariizans— but to preserve the siirnemacy of ihe laws, and resist to the 
last the inroads which had been made upon the sacred grounil of the Constitution. — 
No qnesiioii of individual preference — no low-minded etUirt for parly power, impressed 
upon all hearts their deep sense of responsibility. All was at stake,— I.iberty — I'liioii 
— all, for which llu^ tremendous sacrifice of the Ilevululion had been made. It was 
natural that at such ;i time all eyes should be turned to the tnan, w hose wtll known 
poweisof mind added to his ardent love for the Union, had mad.e Inm emiiieiiiK con- 
spicuous amidst the congregtited talint and patri(Hisin of the Jritate. ]t was ihe first 
lilting opportunity which he had enjoyid, since the present administration had beei> 
ill power, of laying bare his whole heiiri before his constiiueiils— of tracing liie rauid 
progress of the govcriimeiil towards despotism— of reveahngall his hopes and all Ins 
fears— of raising his warning voice — and of washing his hands of ihe unhullowed 
sacrifice of our iiberiies upon thealiar of Ambition. The moment had arrived for ex- 
ertion, iind he did iiol shrink from its responsibility. 



82 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

'In the calm and clear exordium of his speech, he asserled his niiaiice for our fu- 
ture union and happiness, upon the Consniuiion, and offered briefly iiis reasons for 
such a rehance. With a startling change of tune and manner, he demanded what 
were the means of preserving this sheet anchor of our hope 7 Who was to guard tiie 
guardian? Who uphold the sliield which was to protect the CouElitution ? He 
spoke of the attempts of the administration to annihilate the Supreine Judiciary— to 
strilce down the shield which was uplifted to preserve the Constitution forever invio- 
late. With mingled sarcasm and indignation lie alluded to tlie prominent acts of the 
administration ; stretehing out before tlie assembly the gloomy chart of our political 
history for the last four years. 

' The peroration was one of the most powerful appeals ever addressed, in any age, 
or country, to the patriotism of the people. After pointing out the awful gulf, whose 
verge we were approaching— the horrors of Disunion — the fiendish struggles of civU 
war,— he earnestly entreated that if the heavens of our Union were to he broken up— 
if star after star was to sink down and perish utterly, our own Massachu.setts niiglu 
be the last to relinquish the high sphere of w liich she liad been the earliest and brigh'- 
est ornament. His tones usually so firm and powerful, grew solemn and aufiil- 
every breath was repressed — every eye ti.ted motionless on the speaker,— and a .silence, 
deep— unbroken— gave a thrilling distinctness to tliat single voice, wliich faint and 
low with subdued emotion, fell upon every ear and heart. Every eye followed the 
movement of his hand, as pointing upwards for a single instant and then tracing his 
imaginary object slowly and tremulously downward, he spoke of the falling of our 
Liberties, like the Star of the Apocalypse from Heaven, dcwn— down the gulf of ruin 
and all unutterable wo. We saw the falling glory shorn of its beams and dim, borne 
down into utter darkness: we saw the gulf of blackness and Idood yavyn open to re- 
ceive it. Closing With a fervent appeal to Massachusetts to remain faitiifui to the 
last,— true to herself and to the memory of her earlier times— the last to yield, as the 
lirsl to demand, the benefits of the Revolution. Overcome with emotion, the strong 
man sunk into his seat, literally exhausted by the efforts of his mind. The pujseless 
silence which succeeded for a single insiani was broken by one loud, long, universal 
burst of enthusiastic admiration. The whole assembly started on their feet, leaning 
eagerly forward, as if to catch another glance of the patriot orator. I had heard and 
read much of the wonderful eflbrts of human eloquence; I now saw and felt theinall. 

'The style of Mr. Webster's eloquence has no model. It is not the smooth, silvery 
beauty of Burke, it has all the vigor, without the occasional blemishes of Chatham ; 
without the graceful rhetoric of Canning, it has a more regulated power. It has more 
dignity than that of Urougham. It is not the ready, impassioned, captivating and 
practical eloquence of our own Clay. But it is something bi'rh — calin — noble — tho 
eloquence of a patriot losing sight of himself in his zeal f(;r the public welfare. Its 
broad, and deep, and powerful current rolls steadily onward, like some great river of 
his native land, never lingering to hi)ld dalliance with the flowers and foliage of its 
margin, but constantly and without eftbrt, throwing back and reflecting sunshine and 
starbeams— the sky and tlie elouil. His illustralidus anil comparisons are all fitting 
and appropriate ; they are the green garniture of the oak, not the unnatural misl^lne 
springing from its trunk. W.' 

' Mr. President,! do not desire to raise mere pecuniary inti'resis to an undue imijiir- 
tanee, in political matters. I admit, these are principles and objects of pHramount obli- 
gation and importance. I would not oppose the Presiiieiit, merely t)ernusehe basn- 
fused to ilie State what I thought hereniiiled to, in a matter of iiKniey, provided he 
had made known his reasons, and they api>eared to be such as miglu fairly influence 
an intelligent and honest mind. But where a .State has so dire* t aiid so heavy an 
interest, where the justice of the case is so plain, that men agree in it who agree 
hardly in any thing else, where her claim has passed Contcress, without considerable 
opposition in either House, a refusal to approve the bill without giving the slightest 
reason, — and he taking advantage of tlie rising of (,'ongress to "ive it a silent go Ijt, 
is an act that rnay well awaken the aiteiuion of the People of tlie .States coneerned. 
It is an act calling for close examinarion. It i'.* an act, which calls louldly for justi- 
fication by it.-^! author. .And now, sir, 1 will close what I have to say on this particu- 
lar subject by showing that on the 2Jd of Miireii, 1^:5;;, ihe President did actually ap- 
prove and sign a bill, in favor of .South C^aroliua, by which it was enacted thai her 
claim. /c/7' interest upon money actually expended by her for military sftnvs, during thi- 
late war, should be settled and paid ; Iht muiiey su cvpended having been draicn hy 
tlu State from a fuitd iipoii irhic/t slie was receiving interest. Now this, sir, was 
preciselv the case with Massachusetts. 

' Mr. President, I now apiiroach an inquiry of a far more deep and affecting iiiterest. 
Are the principles and m< asurcs of the administration dangerous to the! "onHiitution, 
and to the Union of the .States? .Sir, I believe iheiii to be so : and I shall slate the 
><rounds of that belief. 



LIFE or DANIKI. WKBSTKR. 83 

'In the first place, any ii(liiiiiiistr;iiii)ii is danfjifroiis lo the Constitution, aiifi to the 
Union of the 8tatts, \vhi(rh deinca the essential povycrs of the Constitution, and then 
strips it of the capacity to do the {.'ood intended by it. 

'The principles euihraced by the udniinistrution, and expressed in the Veto Message, 
ore evidently hostile to the whole system of protection, by duties of imposts, on con- 
i:lilulio)ial pruuiids. Here, then, is one s;reat powir siruek at once out of the Con- 
stitution ; and one great end of its adoption deleatf d. And while this power is thus 
struck out of the Constitution ii is clear that it txists nowhere else ; since the Con- 
stitution expressly lakes it away from all the ^Jiati s. 

'The Veto Message denies the constitutional power of creating or continuing such 
an iiistiiution as our whole expcri.-ncc has proved, for maintaining a sound, uniform, 
national cnrrcnoy, and for the tafe collection of revenue. Here is another power, 
loni< used, but luuv lopped uif. A\n\ this power too, thus lopped of}' from the (Jonsti- 
tiinoii, is evidently not within ilu- power of any of the individual States. No State 
lun maintain a national currencv ; no State Institution can render to the revenue the 
Services performed bv a IS'atlonal In.'^titiction. 

'The principles of tlie acjnin-.siratiun are hostile lo internal improvements. Here is 
another power, heretofore exereised in many insianccs, now denied. The adminis- 
tration denies tile power, except wilh (lualifii-ations. which cast an air of ridicnle over 
the whole subject; being fcunrlcd on t:Uch distinctions as between salt water and fresh 
water, places above Custom Houses and places below; and others equally extraor- 
dinary. 

' IS'ow. Fir, in all these respects, as well as in others, I think the principles of the ad- 
ministration at war with the true princijles of the Constitution : and by the zeal and 
industry whicii it exerts to support its own principles, it does daily weaken the Con- 
t-titution, and does put in doubt its long contiiiiiance. The inroad of to-day opens tiio 
way for an easier inroad to-morrow. \\ hen any one essential part is rent away, or 
■what is nearer the 'ruth, when many essential parts are sent away, who is there to 
tell lis lunn lorn; ain/vtker is lo remain ? 

' Sir, our ;;ituatiori is singularly paradoxical. We have an administration opposed lo 
ihfi C^rjiistiiiUion ; we have an opposition whicli is the main support of the govrrn- 
ment and the laws. We have an administration which denies to the verv government 
which it administers powers which it has exercised fir forty years; it tlenics the pio- 
fecting power, the bank power, nnd ihe i^ower of internal improvement. The great 
and leading measures of the national legi.siatnre are all resisted by it. These, strange 
as it may -seem, depend on the optmsitioii for sujiport. We have, in truth, an opposi- 
tion without wiiich it would be difficult fur the government to get along at all. lap- 
peal lo every member of Congress present (and 1 am happy to see manvhire) to say 
\\hal wonhl now become of the government, if all the members of the opposition 
were withdrawn from Congress. For myself, 1 declare my own conviction that its 
continuance might probably be very short. Take away the opposition froni Con- 
gress, ami let iis .see what would iirobably be done the first session. The Tari_ff' 
would be entirely rcpuih^d. F.very enactment having protection by duties as its mam 
object would be struck from the statute bouk. This would be the first tiling done.— 
Every v.ork of internal improvenient would be stopped. This would follow, as a mat- 
ter of course. The bank would go down, and a treaaury money agency would lake 
its place. The Judiciary actof "I'sg would be re|>ealed, so that the Supreme Court 
should exercise no power of revision over Stale decisions. And who would resist the 
doctrines oi iiulhficalion ? Looli, sir, to the votes of Congress for the last three 
vears, and you will see that each of these things would, in all human probability, take 
place at the next session, if the or)position were to be withdrawn. The Constitution 
is threatened, therelore— imminently threatened, by the very fact that those are en- 
trusted with jts administration vvlio are hostile to its essential powers. 

' But, sir, m niyoiJinion, a yet greater danger threatens the Constitution and the gov- 
ernment ; and that is irom the attenit)t to extend Ihe poirer of the Kxeniliveat the ex- 
pni)!,; (if all other hr<rndiex of the govern mcnt, and of the people themselves. Whatever 
accustomed power is denied to the Conslitutiuii, whatever accustomed power is denied 
Congress, or to the Judiciarv, none is dmiid to the Executive. Here, there is no 
relienchm<nl; liere.no apiirchension is felt for the liberties of the people ; here it 13 
not tliDiighi mcessarv lo erect barriers against corruption. t ■ • i 

'I bt'gi'n, sir, with the subject of removals from office for opinion's sake,— a.s I think, 
one of the most sicnal instances of the at tiinpi to extend executive power. This has 
been a leading measure, a cardinal point, in the course of the adminislraiioii. It has 
proceeded, from the first, on a seated system of pro.scription for political opimons : and 
this svstein it has carried into operation to the fiill extent of its nbilitv. The 1 resi- 
dent has not onlv filled all vacanci(;s with his own friends, generally those most dis- 
tinguished as personal pariizans, but he has turned out political opponents, and tlius 



84 LIFE oP DAMLL WEBSTER. 

created vacancies in order that he might fill thnm with his own friends. 1 think llie 
number of removals and appointments is said to be tvo thmisand. While the admin- 
istration and its friends have been attempting to circumscribe, and to decry the pow- 
ers belongin;? to other branches ; it has thus seized into its own hands a patronage 
most pernicious and corrupting, an authority over men's means of living most tyran- 
nical and odious, and a power to punish freemen for political opinions altogether in- 
tolerable. 

' You will remember, sir, that the Constitution says not one word about the Presi- 
dent's power of removal from office. It is a power raised entirely by construction. 
It is a constructive power, introduced at first to meet cases of extreme public neces- 
sity; but it has now become co-extensiye with the Executive will. Calling for no 
necessity, requiring no exigency, for itsexistence ; but to be exercised at all times wiih- 
out control, without question, without responsibility. When the questio;! of the Pres- 
ident's power of removal was debated in the first Congress, those who argued for it 
limited it to extreme cases. Cases, they said, might arise, in which it would be abso- 
liitehj necessary to remove an officer before the Senate could be assembled. An offi- 
cer might become insane; he might abscond. Sir, from these, and other supposable 
cases, it was said, the pubhc serv,ce might materially suflijr, if the President could not 
remove the incumbent. And it was farther said, that there was little or no danger 
of the powers being abused for party or personal objects. No President, it was 
thought, vvould ever commit such an outrage on public opinion. Mr. Madison, who 
thought the power ought to exist, and to be exercised in cases of high necessity, de- 
clared, nevertheless, that if a President should exercise the power when not called for 
by any public exigency, and merely for personal objects, he uov Id deserve to be im- 
peached. By a very small majority, I think in the Senate by the casting vote of the 
Vice President, Congress decided in favor of the existing power, upon the grounds 
which I have mentioned. Granting the power in a case of absolute and clear neces- 
sity, and denying its existence every where else. 

'Mr. Pre.sileiit, we should recollect that this question was discussed, and thus decided, 
wlien Washington was in the Executive Chair. Men knew, that, in his hands, the 
/power would not be abused ; nor did they conceive it possible that any of his succes- 
sors could so depart from his great and bright example, as. by abuse of ilie power, 
and by carrying that abuse to its utmost extent, to change the essential character of 
the execution from that of an impartial guardian and executor of the laws, into that 
of the chief dispenser of party rewards. Three or four instances of removal occ\irrtd 
in the first twelve years of the government. At the commencement of Jlr. Jeil'er- 
son's administration, he made several others, not without producing much dissatis- 
faction; so much so, that he thought it expedient to give reasons to the people, in a 
public paper, for even the limited extent to which be had exercised the power. He 
placed his justification on particular circumstances, and peculiar grounds; which, 
whether substaniial or not, showed, at least, that he did not regard the power of re- 
moval an ordinary power, atill less as a mere arbitrary one to be used as he pleased, 
for whatever ends he pleased, and without responsibility. As far as I remember, sir, 
after the early part of Mr. Jefferson's administration, hardly an instance occurred for 
near thirty years. If there were any instances, they were few. Pjiit at the commence- 
ment of the present administration the precedent of these previous eases was seized 
on, and as^ystem, a regular plan of sorernmcnt, a well-considered scheme for the 
maintenance of parly power, by the patronage of otlice, and this patronage to be 
created by general removal, was adopted, ami has been carried into full operation. — 
Indeed, before Gen. .lackson's inauguration, the party put the system into practiee. — 
In the last session of Mr. Adams's administration, the friends of Gen. .Taeksou con- 
stituted a majority in the Senate; and nominalions, made by him to fill vacancies, 
which had occurred in ihe ordinary way, were postponed, by this mil^iity, bc\ond 
the tlunl of March, f )r the purpose, openly avowed, of giving ihe nomination to Gen. 
Jackson. A nomination for a Judge of the Supreme Court, and many others of less 
magnitude, were thus disposed of. 

' .Vnd what did we witness, sir, when the administration actually conuneiieed in the 
full exercise of its authority .■' One universal sweep, one undislinguislung blow, level- 
led against all, who are not of the successhd ijarly. No worth, public or private, no 
services, civil or military, was of power to resist iho relentless greediness of proscrip- 
tion. Soldiers of the late war, suldiers of the llevDluiioiiary war, the very contempo- 
raries of the libertius of the country, all lost their situation.s. No office was too high, 
and none too low ; for office was the spoil, and (;// the spoils, it was said, belonged to 
the victors! If a man, holding an office mccssary for his daily support, had pre- 
sented himself covered with the scars of wounils received in every battle, from Bun- 
ker Hill to York Town, these would not have protected hiiii against the reck- 
less rapacity of proscription. Nay, Sir, if VVarren himself hatl been among the living 



LIFE OF DANIF.L WEBSTER, 85 

and had possessed an office under government, hij'l) or low, he would not have been 
suffered to hold it a single hour, unless he could snow that he had strictly complied 
with the party statutes, and had put a well marked party collar round his own neck. 
Look, sir, to the case of the late venerable Major Melville. He was a spirit of 1776, 
one of the very first to venture in the cause of liberty. He v\asof the Tea party, one 
of the very first to expose himself to British power. And his whole life was conso- 
nant with this, its beginning. Always ardent in the cause of Liberty, always n '/cal- 
ous friend to his country, always actuig with the party wliich he supposed cherished 
the genuine Republican Spirit most fervently, always estimable and respectable in 
private life, he seemed armed against tiiis miserable petty tyranny of parly, as far os 
man could be. But he felt its blow and befell. He held an office in the Custom 
House, and had holden it for a long course of years; and he was deprived of it, as if 
unworthy to serve the country in which he lived, and for whose liberties, in the vigor 
of his early manhood, he had ihrust himself into the very jaws of its enemies. There 
was no nnstake in ihe mat'er. His character, his standing, his Revolutionary servi- 
ce.s, were all well known; but ibey were known to no purpose. They weighed not 
one feather against party jiretensions. It cost no pains to remove him ; it cost no 
compunction to wring Ins aged heart with this retribution from his country for his 
services, his zeal, and his fidelity. Sir, you will bear witness, that when his successor 
was nominated to the Senate, and the Senate was told who it was that had been re- 
moved to make way for ihat nonnnation, members were struck with horror. They 
had not conceived the administration to be capable of such a thing : and yet, they 
said, what can vrc do 7 The man is removed: — we cannot recall him ; we can only 
act upon the nomination before us ! Sir, you and I thought otherwise ; and I rejoice 
that we did think otherwise. We thought it our duty to resist the nomination, to a 
vacancy, thus created. We thought it our duty to oppose this proscription when, and 
where, as we constitutionaliy could. We besought the Senate to go wiili us, -ind to 
take a stand before the country on this gn-^at question. We invoked them to try ilio 
deliberate sense of the people; lo trust liiemselves before the tribunal of public o[;iii- 
ion ; to resist at peril, to resist at last, to resist always, the introduciion of this unso- 
cial, this mischievous, this dangerous, this belligerent principle, into the practice of 
the government. 

' Mr. President, as far as I know, there is no civilized country on earth, in whirh, on 
a change of rulers, there is such an in'fuisition for f'poiU as we have witnessed in this 
free Republic. The Inaugural Address of ISy'J spoke of a starcliins opa-iilion of guv- 
ernment. The most searching operation, sir, of the present adnrimsiration has luen 
its search for office and place. VVhenever, sir, did any English Minister, whig or lory, 
take such an inriiiesl ? When did he ever go do\\n Id low water marl;, to make an 
ousting of tide waters? When did he ever take away the daily bread of weigh< r.s 
and gangers, and measurers? Or when did he go into the villages, to disturb the 
little post offices, the mail contracts, and any thing else, in the remotest degree con- 
nected with government 7 Sir, a Britain who should do this, and should afterwards 
show his head in a British House of Commons, vvoidd be received by a universal 
hiss. 

'I have little to say of the selections made to fill vacancies, thus created. It is true, 
however, that it is a natural consefiuenceof the system which has been acted on, that 
■within the last three years, more nominations have been reiccied, on the ground of 
unfitness, than in all the precedino forty years of the government. And these nomi- 
nations, you know, sir, could not have been rejected, hut by votes of the President's 
own friends. Tin! causes were too siroiii; to be resisted. Even party attachment 
could not stand thern. In some, not a third of the Senate, in others hot ten votes, 
and in oihers not a single vole, could be obtained ; and this, for no particular reason 
known only to the Senate; but on general grounds of the want of cliarncter and 
qualifications: on grounds known to every body else as well as lo the Senate. All 
this, sir, is perfectly natural and consistent. The same parly selfishness whicli drives 
g:ood men out of offici', will push bad men in. Political proscription leads necessa- 
rily to the filling of iiffices with incompi.'tent persons, and to a consequent mal-e.ve- 
cution of official duties. In my opinion, sir, it will eliectually change the character 
of our government, this acting upon the avowed princiiile of claiming office by right 
of conquest, unless the public shall rebuke and restrain it. It elevates party above 
country ; it forgets the common weal, in the pursuit of personal emolument ; it tends 
to form, it does form, we see that it has formed, political combiniitions, held together 
by no common principles or opinions among its members, either upon the powers of 
the government, or the true policy of the country ; but held together simply as an 
association, under the cliarm of a popular head, seeking to maintain [lossession of 
tho government by a vigorous exercise of iis patronage ; and for this purpose agita- 
ting, and alarming, and distressing social life by the exercise of a tyrannical party 

8 



86 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

proscription. Sir, if this course of things cannot be checked, good men will grow 
tired of the exercise of pohtica! privileges. They will have nothing to do with popu- 
lar elections. They will see that sued elections are but a mere selfish contest for 
office; and they will abandon the government to the scramble of the bold, the daring, 
and the desperate. 

'It seems, Mr. President, to be a peculiar and singular characteristic of the present 
admmistration, that it came into power on a cry against abuses, which did not exist, 
and then, as soon as it was in, as if in mockery of the perception and intelligence of 
the people, it created those very abuses, and carried them to a great length. Thus the 
Chief Magistrate himself, before he came into the chair, in a formal public paper, de- 
nounced the practice of appointing members of Congress to office. He said, that if that 
practice continued, corruption would become the order of the day ; and as if to fasten, 
and nail down his own consistency to that point, he declared that it was "due tohim- 
self to practice what he recommendtd to others." Yet, sir, as soon as he was in power, 
these fastenings gave way, the nails all flew, and the promised consistejicy remains, a 
striking proof of the manner in which political assurances are sometimes fulfilled.— 
For, sir, he has already appointed more members of Congress to office than any of 
his predecessors, in the longest period of administration. Before his time, there was 
no reason to complain of these appointments. They had not been numerous, under 
any administration. Under this, they have been numerous, and some of them such 
as may well justify complaint. 

'Another striking instance of the exhibition of the same characteristics, may be 
found in the sentiments of the Inaugural Address, and in the subsequent practice, on 
the subject of interfering with the freedom of elections. The Inaugural Address de- 
clares, that it is necessary to reform abuses which have ij-oug-Zii! the patronage of gov- 
ernment into conflict with the freedom of elections. And what has been the subse- 
quent practice 7 Look to the newspapers ;— look to the published letters of officers 
of the Government, advising, exhorting, soliciting friends and partizans to greater 
exertions, in the cause of party ;— see all done, every where, which patronage and 
power can do, to elfect not only elections in the General Government, but also in 
everv .State Government— and then say how well this promise of reforming abuses 
has been kept. At what former period, under what former administration, did public 
officers of the United Stares thus interfere in elecUons? Certainly, sir, never. In 
tins respect, then, as well as in others, that which was not true, as a charge against 
previous administration.^, vv(n:ld have been true, if it had assumed the form of a proph- 
ecy, respecting the acts of the present. 

'But there is another attempt to grasp, and to wield, a power over public opinion, 
of a still more daring character, and far more dangerous effects. 

' In all popular governments, a free press is the most important of all agents and 
instruments. It notonlv expresses public opinion, but, to a very great degree, it con- 
tributes to form that opinion. It is an engine, for good or for evil, as it may be directed; 
hut an engine of which nothing can resist the force. The conductors of the press, in 
popular governments, occupy a place, in the social and political system, ot the very 
highest consequence. They wear the character of public instructers. To mailers of 
intelligence, they add matters of opinion. Their daily labors bear directly on the in- 
telligence, the morals, the taste, and the public spirit of the country. Not only are 
they journalists, recording political occurrences, but they discuss principles, they com- 
ment on mea.siires, they canvass characters, they hold a power over the reputation, 
the feelings, the happiness of individuals. The public ear is alway.s open to their 
addrcsse.«, the public sympathy easily made respoiKsive to their sentiments. It is, 
indeed, air, a distinction of high honor, and theirs is the only profession expressly pro- 
tected and guarded by con.siiiutional enactments. Their emplovment soars so hign 
in its general conseciuences, it is so intimately connected with the public happiness, 
that its security is provided for bv the fundamental law. While it acts in a manner 
worthy of this distinction, ihe prets is a fouiilain of light, and a source of gladdening 
warmth. It instructs the public mind, and animates the spirit of patriotism. Its 
loud voice suppresses every thing, which would raise itself against the public liberty ; 
and its blasting rebuki' caiises incipient despotism to perish in the bud. But reniein- 
ber, sir, that these are the attributes of a Free Press only. And is a press that is 
purchased or pensioned, more free than a press that is fettered ' t.'an the people look 
for truths to partial sources, whether rendered partial through i. ar, or through lavor? 
Why shall not a manacled press be trusted with the maini.ni;M)ce and defence of 
popular rights'? Because it is sui)posed to be under the influinee of a power, which 
may prove !:realer than the love of truth. Sueli a press may screen abuses in govern- 
ment, or be silent. It may fear to speak. And may it not fear to speak, too, when 
its conductors, if th.y speak in any but one way, may lose their means of livelihood? 
Is dependence on government fur bread no temptation to screen its abuses ! VVill tho 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTF.R. 87 

Press always speak tlie truth, thoiip;li the truth, if spoken, may be tlie means of si- 
lenoins; it for the future! Is the truth in no danger, is tlie watchman under no 
temptation, when he can neither prochiim the approach of national evils, nor seem 
to descry them, without the loss of his place? 

'Mr. President, an open attempt to secure the aid and frieiidsliip of the public press 
by bestowing the emoluments of office on its active conductors, seems to me, of every 
thing we have witnessed, to be the most reprehensible. It degrades both the govern 
meiit and the press. As far as its natural efieci extends, it turns the palladium o< 
liberty into an engine of party. It brings the agency, activity, energy and patronage 
of government, all to bear, with united force, on the tneans of general intelligence, 
and on the adoption or rejection of political opinions. 

'It so completely prevents the true object of Government, it so entirely revolu- 
tionizes our whole system, that the chief business of those in power is directed rather 
to the propagation of opinions favorable to themselves, than to the e.\ecution of the 
laws. This propagation of opinions, through the press, becomes the main adminis- 
tration duty. Some fifty or sixty editors of leading journals have been appointed to 
office by the power of the Executive. A stand has been made against this proceeding, 
in the Senate, with partial success : but by means of appointments which do not 
come before the Senate, or other means, the number has been carrii^d to the extent 
I have mentioned. (Certainly, sir, the editors of the public journals are not to be dis- 
franchised. Certainly, they are fair candidates either for popular elections, or a joint 
participation in office. Certainly, they n.'ckou, in their number, some of the geniuses, 
the best scholars, and the most honest and well principled men in the country. Hut 
the complaint is against the system, against the practice, against the undisguised 
attempt to secure the favor of tne press, by means addressed to its pecuniary interest. 
Arid these means, too, draw from the public treasury ; being no other than the ap- 
pointed compensations for the performance of official duties. Sir, the press itself 
should resent this. Its own character for purity and independence is at stake. It 
should resist a connexion, rendering it obnoxious to so many imputations. We siiould 
point to its honorable denominations, in our Constitutions of Government, and it 
should mainiaiii the character there ascribed to it, of a free press.' 

On the 16ih of February, 1833, Mr. Webster made a speech in the Senate in reply to 
one just delivered by Mr. Calhoun on the bill — 'Pnrther to provide for the collection 
of duties on imports.' Previous to hia speech Mr. Calhoun submitted the following 
resolutions : 

^Resolved, That the people of the several States composing these United States 
are united as parties to a constitutional compact, to which the people of each State 
acceded as a separate sovereign community, each binding itself by its own particular 
ratification ; and that the union, of which the said compact is the bond, is a union 
between the Slates ratifying the same. 

^Resolved, Tha' the people of tlie several States, thus united by the constitutional 
compact, in forming that instrument, and in creating a General Government to cai ry 
into effect the objects for which they were formed, delegated to that Government, for 
that purpose, certain definite powers, to be exercised jointly, reserving at the same 
time, each State to itself, the residuary mass of powers, to be exercised by its own 
separate G(jveriiment ; and that vvhenever the General Government assumes the ex- 
ercise of powers not delegated by the compact, its acts are unauthorized, and are of 
no efli'ct ; and that the same Government is not made the final judge of the powers 
delegated to it, since that would make ilsdi.scretion, and not the constitution, the mea- 
sure of its [)owers ; but that, as in all cases of compact among sovereign parlies, 
without any common judge, each has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of the 
mfraction as of the mode and measure of redress. 

'Resolved, That the assertions that the people of these United States, taken collec- 
tively as individuals, arc now, or ever have hern, united on the principle of the Si)cial 
compact, and a.s such are now formed into one nation or people, or that they have 
ever been so united in any one stage of th r political existence; that the people of 
the several States com|)osing the Union have not. as members thereof, retained their 
sovereignty; that the allegiance of their citizi-ns has been transferred to the General 
Government ; that they have parted with tbe right of punishing treason through tlnir 
respective State Governineiils ; and that they nave not the right of judging in the 
last resort as to the extent of the powers i;..-erved, and of consequence of those dele- 
gated ; are riot only without founclation iii truth, but are contrary to the most certain 
and plain historical facts, and the clearest deducti )ns of reason; and that all exir- 
cise of power on the part of the General Government, or any of its departmcni.-i, 
claiming authority from such erroneous assumptions, must of necessity be imeonsti- 
tutional— nnst tend, directly and inevitably, to subvert the sovereignty of the States, 
10 destroy the federal i:haracter of the Union, and to rear on its ruins a cons<jluJatej 



<^8 LtFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

Government, without constitutional check or limitation, and which must necessarily 

'^Tiu^^^S^fr^l. tecr'wa; a direct denial of all and singular the doc.rin^ 
laid down by Mr. Calhoun -and he enforced his opinions with strong argumenis 
drawn fr in tie nature of our constitutional compact. He analyzed the nistrunien 
Use f and evplained its origin and early interpretation with his usua cearnc-.a and 
.mvincm- i^r- uments. He described the effects of nullification in al us revo ution- 
;,ry con^equerl^-es, if proceeded in a single step-after giving the fnghttul picture ot 

" ''i'nd now' Sr 'agamlln the.e theories and opinions, I maintaiti- 

' r Tl at^ie con'=ntuli Ml of the United States is not a league, confederacy, or compact, 
hetwiithe peon e ot"the several States m their sovereign capacities; but a Uovern- 
n'e'uproperfrmlffd on the adoption of the people, and creating direct relations be- 

'""'f^llfAf nosSrSority has power to dissolve these relations ; that toothing 
cn>disi'Lthc^t\ but revolution ; and tint, coasequently, there can be no suon thing 

''•f'TlSrthTi-eTs"^ '^,;ite law, consisting of the constitution of theUnited States, 
-,.ts of^Con iess pas4d in pursuance of it, and treaties; aud that, in cases not capa- 
i', of a.Cn nAhecharac erof a suit in law orequUy, Congress must judge of, and 
fi^Uv later ret"' hfs supreme law, so often as it has occasion to pass ac s ot egisla- 
p:«-aTm«.s capable of assuming, and actually assuming, the character ot a 

ai-re^tl^^'o waTio'Tith'in her limits, on^ he ground ^'^^^^^^^^l^^^,^ 

vyueMier me cui^uiumuii ■ | ...„..^j (Vo,.. what is contained tntlieinstni- 

,„„ ,,a ,,.,e.tmt, » '* ""S jf ,'\™* ' St "t whkh h.. been it. »...» way 

S^SSS oS;si?ii^3siJ-'\;nt5i^™^^ 
B$B:c^zhs^' -=ss'i;£;n;K«n?^^^ 

prM« then sitnn- under the confederation, Congress had transmitted it to tnc »tate 
fpti.l.Mlrandbv these last it was laid before conventions ot the people in thesev- 

c;i;s';r"=^ii;r»i;S2f'i;e^3:r^:a ^j^^K^ 

expression of that will. What the constitution says '!' "^^^'''-I '"'A"'^^;'^^^^^^ 

as what it sav's on any other p.)int. Docs it call its ; f a 'Wact \';';''^' > '^"'g,,^', 

^:t::::'iz;:^r &'ir;;.di'i^ ?vijS" ^t:i:^^^ libs^suiirt^^ 

; ween he StTs ■ CVrtai Iv not. Th.re is not a particle ot such hmguuge in all 
h':'^ ' But it ,iecla^.«elf a constitution. What >7;y-'^(|(^-^,/ ,,J.;;^ ^^'^ 
„ >. -. I,.-, n.P f-ntnmct or conWerncv, hat ajundanuntal law. i liat luna.i neiltai 
p:^, a on'd'nelermut'the' manner in winch the P^''^^ -^^^"^"V -jo U^ cxe- 
Cijted, IS what forms the constitution of a State Those pru lary ^ .'';'f^^ J' ' , ""^^ 
he +.odv its,-lf and Uie very bring ofthe political society, the tor n c t governnu t and 
1 :Snner in which power is to be ex-.c-sed-all m a -'^yflf^-'^l^^i^fi;; ^^^:^'; 
constitution nf a State, these are the '"''d^'-'^'''"' '='^^'^;, -i ' ,^;,f ^'^^ ^^^/a e^^^^^^^^^^ 
tiie public writers. Hut do we need to be informed, m i us ' '"' \'^yOy'>"vv2 are a no 
Hon,s 1 Is it not an idea perfectly faunhar, dehnite, and wel settle ! vve ^r^-^t " > 
losq t(. understand what is meant by the constitution of one of the fetateb, ana tno 
r:^s;ution:;/£l]^nt:^ States speaks of itself as being an |"S..Timenl o^ the same 
nature. It sav.s, this co;stitulion shall be the law of the U"id any hi ig in any Mate 
c.nMntion to the contrary notwithsta.id.ng. -'^" V\'inl h,/c nacl^.d an aU 
contradistiuc.ion tVom a confederation : for it says hat nil deh s '^^^ ^.[^^^^^^^^^^ 
en.'n<'emenls entered iiit,. bv tiie United States, shall be as valid luler t'l's c sr 
/,-o« as und^.r the conM^ration. It does not say, as valid un.ler ' "^ '■°'''^,"^ ;j% J'^^, 
league, or this confederation, as under t'>*, former confederation, but as \aua unutr 

*'"' ThisrtliefSr, is declared to be a constitution. A constitution is the fundamental 



LIFE OF UANIF.L WKBSTEH. 89 

law of (lie State ; and this is expressly declared to be ilie supreme law. It is as if the 
people had said, '" we prescribe this fundamental law," or " this supreme law, " for 
they do say that they establish this constitution, and that it shall he the supreme 
law. They say that they urdain and establish it. Now, sir, what is the common 
application of these words? We do not spean of ordainim; leagues and compacts. If 
this was intended to be a compact or league, and the States to be parties to it why 
was is not so said? Why is there found no one expression in tiie whole instrument 
indicatins; such intent ? The old confederation was expressly called a league; and 
into this league it was declared that the States, a.s States, severally entered. Why 
was not similar language used in the constitution, if a similar intention had existed'' 
Why was it not said, " the States enter into this new league," " the States form this 
new conlederation," or "the States agree to this new compact?" Or, wliy was it 
not said, in the language of the gentleman's resolution, that the people of the several 
States acceded to this compact in their sovereign capacities? What reason is there 
for supposing that the framers of the constitution rejected expressions appropriate to 
their own meaning, and adopted others wholly at war with that meaning? 
^^ 'Again, sir, the constitution speaks of that political system whith it established as 
" the Gurcrnmcnt of the United States." Is it not doing strange violence to language 
to call a league or a compact between sovereign Powtrs a Gorcrnment ? The Gov- 
ernnient of a State is thai organization in which the political power resides. It is the 
political being, created by the constitution or fundamental law. The broad and clear 
difference betvyeen a Government and a league, or compact, is, that a Govtrnment 
is a body politic ; it has a will of its own ; and it possesses powers and faculties to 
execute its own purposes. Every compact looks to some power to enforce its stipu- 
lations. Even in a compact between sovereign communities, there always exists this 
ultimate reference to a power to ensure its execution ; alihough, in such case, this 
power isbut the force of one party against the force of another— that is to say, tlie 
power of war. But a Government executes its decisions by its own supreme authority. 
Its use of force in compelling obedience to its own enactments, is nut war. It contem- 
plates no opposing party having a right of resistance. It rests on its own power to 
enforce its own will ; and, when it ceases to possess this power, it is no longer a 
Government.' 

The whole speech carried out and fearlessly maintained his former doctrines, with- 
out petulance at being again forced to advert to them. He had not changed a straw. 

In June, 1S33, Mr. Webster to restore himself from the effects of the intense labor he 
had performed at the bar and in the Senate, commenced a journey to the West. He had 
often been invited by his friends residing there, to make them a visit long before lUi^ 
time, but never found it convenient uniil now. At Uiica, in the State of New York, 
he was received with every mark of attention bv all classes, without distinction of 
party. At Buffalo, in that part of it called the village of Black Rock, he alieiided the 
launching of a vessel v^'hirh was calle'd " Daniel Wf^bster," in honor of him. On thi.s 
occasion he made them a shori, spirited address, with his usual felicity. He was re- 
ceived with the highest enthusiasm at Cleveland, in the State of Ohio. At Colum- 
bus, the seat of government, he was surrounded by admiring friends without reference 
to parly distinction. At Cincinnati lie could not avoid accepting the oiler of a public 
dinner, which was attended by a large number of persons from all the respectable 
classes in society. He made them an excellent speech on the occasion, and left 
them for his way home. 

At Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he was invited to a public dinner which he declined, 
but consented to partake of a cold collation. The place fixed upon for this social 
festivity, was in a delightful grove, which accommodated more than two thousand 
persons The addresses and the replies were full of talent and patrioiism, which 
made a deep impression on the sons of Penn. who hold, as it were, in their hands, the 
keys of the Western world. No person in our country, who has travelled without 
the charm of executive power, has ever received such attentions. It is natural to bow 
to those who hold high executive or military offices, but seldom do talents and patri- 
otism, without the power of patronage, obtain by a voluntary impulse of an admiring 
people, a continued ovation from ciiy to city, and from State to State. There was 
no barren spot in the statesman's pathway ; the mountains and vales were all strew- 
ed with flowers, and redolent with honest admiration. 

On the 5ih of February, IHSl, Mr. Webster made his report as chairman of 'the 
Committee of Finance, to whom had been referred the report of the Secretary of the 
Treasurv of the 3d of December, 1833, on the removal of the public depositees Irom the 
Bank of the United States, and a resolution, submitted to the Senate liy an honora- 
ble member from Kentucky, declaring that th(e reasons assigned by the Secretary for 
the removal of said deposites are unsatisfactory and insufhcient, have agreed on the 
following report :' Here we again ha.ve to take but a small part of this masterly and 

8* 



"90 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 

luminous argument, showing that by no fair construction of any law of the United 
States had the Secretary of the Treasury the right of keeping the purse-strings of the 
nation in his own hands. 

'Tile keeping of tiie public money is not a matter which is left, or was intended to 
be left, at the will of the Secretary, or any other officer of the Government. This 
public money has a place fixed by law, and settled by contract ; and tiiis place is the 
Bank of the United States. In this place it is to remain until some event occur re- 
quiring its removal. To remove it, therefore, from this place, without the occurrence 
of just cause, is to thwart the end and design of the law, defeat the will of Congress, 
and violate the contract into which the Government has solemnly entered. 

'It is fit to be observed that no other law confers on the Secretary such a wide dis- 
cretion over the public interests in regard to any subject, or gives him a povyer to act 
on the rights of others, or on the rights of the public, in any part of his official duties, 
with so unlimited an authority as is here asserted. Every where else, he appears in 
the character of a limited and restricted agent. He is the financial officer of the Go- 
vernment ; he is the head of the Department of the Treasury. His duty is, to report 
annually to Congress the state of the finances, and to communicate to either House, 
when requested, any information respecting the Treasury ; and he is to superintend 
the cjllection of the revenue. But he has no authority over the circulating medium of 
the country, either metallic or paper; nor has he the control of the national currency. 
It is no part of his duty either to contract or expand the circulation of bank paper, nor 
in any other way to exercise a general superintendence over the money system of the 
country. These general interests of the Government and the people are not confided 
to his hands by any of the laws which created his office, and have prescribed his du- 
ties; and the committee are of opinion that the charier of the bank no more intended 
to give such a wide scope to the Secretary in regard to the deposites, than other laws 
intended to give him the same wide scope in respect to other duties of his office. No 
intimation of such intention is found either in the charter itself, or in any of the legis- 
lative debates which took place in both Houses when the bank was established ; or in 
the discussions which have been had on the various occasions which have been more 
recently presented for call ng forth the sentiment of Congress. In none of these 
sources is there to be found any proof that the Legislature has delegated, or intended 
to delegate, this extraordinary power of judging of the general interest of the people 
to the Secretary of the Treasury. Such a power, did he possess it, would necessarily 
make him the general superintendent of all the proceedings of the bank ; because it 
would enable him to compel the bank to conform all its operations to his pleasure, 
under penalty of suffering a removal of the public moneys. This would be little less 
than placing all the substantial power of managing the bank in his hands. But he is 
not by law its manager, nor one of its managers; nor has he any right, in any Ibrm, 
to interfere in its management. On the contrary, the very language of the chartei 
rejects all ideas of such general supervision over its concerns by him, or any other of- 
ficer of Government. That language is, that "/or the mana'^emmt of the ufj'airs of 
the corporation there shall be twenty-five directors annually chosen;" and, under the 
restrictions contained in the charier, these directors are intrusted with the whole ge- 
neral business of the bank, subject, of course, to all the provisions of the charter and 
the by-laws; subject, too, always to the inspection and examination of either House 
of Congress ; subject always to regular inquiry and trial, and bound always to com- 
municate to the head of the Treasury Department, (<n request, statements of its 
amount of stock, debts due, moneys deposited, notes in circulation, and specie on 
hand. 

'Under these restrictions, the establishment of its offices, and the appointment of its 
officers ; the amount of its discounts, and every thing respecting those discounts ; its 
purchases and sales of exchange, and all other concerns of the institution, are to be 
conducted and managed by the directors. There is nothing in the charter giving the 
slightest authority to the Secretary to decide, as between the bank on the one hand, 
and tile Government or the people on the other, whether the general management of 
the directors is wise or unwise, or whether, in regard to matters not connected with 
the deposites, it has or has not violated the conditions of its charter. The statement 
which the bank is bound to make to the Secretary, he may lay before Congress; and 
he is doubtless, bound liyhis official duty, to communicate to Congress any other in- 
formation in Ins possession, tending, in his judgment, to show that the btuik had dis- 
regarded its charter, or failed to fulfil all or any of its duties. But here his authority, 
80 fpr as it regards the general course and operations of the hank, ends. It is then for 
Congress to act, if it see occasion, and to adopt the regular remedies for iiny evil.s 
which it may suppose to exist. But it transcends the power of Congress itself to 
pronounce the charter violated, withont hearing, without trial, without judgment ; far 
less is any such power of pronouncing final judgment confided to the Secretary. His 



UFE OP DANIEL WEBSTER. &I 

power simply is, that in rc^anl to llie clypositcs oC the pubhc money, he is to jii<lge in 
the first instance, whether just cause lias arisen fur their removal." ' 

'The Secretary seems to suppose, indeed the very basis of his argument assumes, 
that the law has confided to ium a j^eneral snardia'nshiii over ihe public welfare, so 
far as that welfare is in any way connected with the bank, or liable to be atlecled by 
its proceedings; and that he holds the power of removing ihedeposiiesiis the means, 
or msirument, by which he is lo enforce his own opinions respeclinji that welfare! 
The coirinnltee do not adopt this opinion. They think that if such had been the de- 
sign of the law, its provisions would have been very dillerent from those which it dots 
actually contain. 

_ 'If such general guardianship had been intended to be conferred on the Secretary, 
It is reasonable to believe that lie would have been vested with powers more suitable 
to such a high trust. If he had been made, or intended lo be made, general inspec- 
tor, or superintendent, oilier authority ihaii merely that of removing the deposites 
would have been given him, for this plain reason, that the Government and the conn- 
try have interests of much magnitude connected with the bunk, besides the deposites 
of thepublic moneys in its vaults, and to which hitercsts, if endangered, the removtil 
of the deposites would bring no seeiirity. 

'The Government is proprietor of seven millions of the stock of the hank ; and yet 
no authority is given to the .Secretary lo sell this stock under any circumstances what- 
ever, or ill any othtir way to interfere with it. 

'.The bills and notes of the bank, too, are made receivable in all payments lo the 
Lnited States, until Congress shall otlierwise order; and no power is givi n 'o tlio 
Secretary to prevent their being so received, either during ilie se.-; ion of Congress or 
m Hs reces.s, however the credit of these bills and notes niiaiit beeoiiie depreciated. 

'How is it possible to conceive that, if Congress intended to give to the Secretary 
a general right to judge of the operations and proceedings of the bank, and a power, of 
course, to declare when it had viulated its duty, and was no longer iru.'^i^orihy, it 
should yet leave him under an absolute obligation to receive its bills and notes iii all 
payments to the Treasury, though they might have lest all credit ; and ulaee no inean.s 
in his hands to execute lus high authority of superintendent, except the nitre power 
of removal 7 

'Wherever it is clear that Congress has given the Secretary a power, it has given 
him the means of informing his judgment as to tliepropriety of e.xeicisint: that power. 
He has power to remove the dep(i;;ites ; and ample means are nfibrded him by whicli 
he may learn ironi time to time, whether those deposites are safe. lAir this purpose. 
It is expressly made the duly of the l-.ank to furnish him, so often as he shall reriuire, 
if not oftener than once a week, with statements of the amount of the capital stock 
of the corporation, of the debts due lo it, of the monevs deposited in it, of its notes in 
circulation, and specie on hand ; and he has a righi to insp-ct the general accounts, 
in the books ot the bank, relating to this ulatement, This statement enables him to 
judge of the solvency and stability of the b.-i.ik, and of the safety of the public money 
deposited in it. Here, then, is a power, and all apprc/priate means given for the just 
and enlightened excreise of that power. Confined lo the deposites, the power is' ac- 
companied with all rational auxiliaries and attendants. 

' But for the depreciation of the bills of the bank, slunild that happen, and for olher 
cases of maladminisiration. (Jongre.ss lias provided just and appropriate remedies, to 
be applied by itself or ot <)< : ^^, in exclusion of the Secretary. For ridress of these evils, 
no power is given to him. 

' For the security of tin' public interest, the law reserves a right to either House of 
Congress to inqufre, at all times, into the proceedings of the bank, and if, on such in- 
quiry, It appears in any respect to have \iolated its charter, Conj^ress may bring it to 
trial and judgment. Power is given to the President, also, to institute judicial proceed- 
ings, it he shall have reason to believe that any such violation has taken place. But 
no siH'h power is given to the Si'cretary. 

'The proposition then cannot be maintained, that Congress has relied, forthe secu- 
rity of the public interests, and the preservation of the general welfare, so far as it is 
connected with the bank, on a general discretion reposed in the Secretary, for two 
reasons: first, because it has not given him the appropriate p Avers of remedy in the 
most im)iortant instances; and, secondly, because it has, in ihose instances, either 
expressly reserved those powers to itself, or expressly conferred lliem on the ['resi- 
dent. 

'If the Secretary cannot prevent the notes of the bank from being received al ihe 
custom houses and the land ofiiccs, even after they -should be discrediled ; if he have 
no power to touch, in any way, the seven millions of stock belonging to the Govern- 
nient ; if the power of examination into the proceedings of the bank be given, not to 
hiiii, but to either House of Congress; if he have no power, but Congress and the 



"9? LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

President, each, has power to direct a legal investigation info the conduct of the bank ; 
how can it possibly be maintained that a general inspection and guardianship over 
the public welfare, so far as it is connected vvith the banlt, is confided to him ; and 
that his authority to remove the deposites was given, not to protect the deposiles them- 
selves, and secure their proper use, but to enable him to enforce upon the bank, under 
penalty of their removal, such a course of management as his sense of the public in- 
terest, and of the convenience of the people, may require 1 Such a construction would 
give tne law a strange and an undeserved character. It would convert the power of 
removal, intended for remedy and redress, into a mere instrument of punishment ; and 
it would authorize the infliction of that punishrnent without hearing or trial, in the very 
cases in which the law yet says that, if violation of duty be charged, the charge shall 
be heard and tried before judgment is pronounced ; and the duty of preferring this 
charge, and of prosecuting it to judgment, is given, not to the Secretary, but to Con- 
gress and to the President. 

' The contingent power given to the Secretary to remove the deposites evidently 
shows that Congress contemplated the possibility of the happening of sotne sudden 
evil for which either no other remedy was provided, or none which could be applied 
with sufficient promptitude ; and for which evil removal would be a just and appro- 
priate remedy. The remedy prescribed, then, teaches us the nature of the evils which 
were apprehended. We can readily understand that threatened danger to the funds 
was one, and probably the chief of those evils: because change into other hands is 
the ready and appropriate pleasure which would rationally suggest itself to all minds 
as the proper security against such danger; and change is the remedy actually pre- 
scribed. Neglect to transfer the deposites from one place to another, as the exigen- 
cies of Government might require, and thereby to furnish those facilities of exchange 
which the charter demands of the bank without commission and without charge, is 
another evil for which, should it happen, the remedy would naturally be the withdraw- 
ing of the funds, and the placing of them in their former custody, so that they could 
be transferred or exchanged by the Treasury itself 

\ But who can see any connexion or relation, such as ordinarily exists between an 
evil apprehended and a remedy proposed — between such an evil as a supposed over- 
discount, for instance, by the bank at one time, or an under-discount at another, and 
the abrupt removal of all the public deposites? And if no one can see the con- 
nexion, how can it be supposed that, in giving the power of removal as a remedy, 
Congress had in view any such evil 7 

' A question may arise between the Government and the bank respecting the right 
of the parties to the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, as in the case of 
the French bill. 

' It is a question on which different opinions may be entertained, and which is, in its 
nature, fit for judicial decision. Does any man imagine that such a case as ihis was 
in the eye of Congress when they granted the power of withdrawing the whole public 
treasure from the Lank 7 Can it be for one moment maintained, that Congress in- 
tended that, in such a case, the Secretary should compel the bank to adopt his own 
opinion, by the exercise of a power, the very exertion of which deranges the currency, 
interferes with the industry of the people, and, under some circumstances, would 
hazard the safety of the whole revenue 7 

'The coinmittee think it cannot admit of rational doubt, that if Congress had in- 
tended to give to the Secretary any power whatever, not directly touching the depo- 
sites themselves, not only would it have specially pointed out the cases, but it would 
also, most assuredly, have provided a remedy more suitable fir each case. The na- 
ture of ilie remedy, therefore, which is prescribed, clearly shows the evils intended to 
be provided against. 

'To admit iliat the Secretary's conduct is subject to no control but his own sense 
of the general interest and convenience of the people, is to acknowledge the existence, 
in his hands, of a discretion so broad and unliniiitd, that iis consequences can be 
no less than to subject, not only all the operations of the bank and its offices, hut its 
powers and capacities, perhaps its very existence, to his individual will. He is of 
opinion that the law creating it is, in many of its provisions, unconstitutional ; he 
may not unnaturally, therefore, esteem it to be his duty to restrain and ol)struct, to 
the utmost of his power, the operation of those provisions thus deemed by him to he 
unconstitutional. He is of opinion that the existence of such a powerful moneyed 
monopoly is dangerous to the liberties of the people. It would result from this that 
if. in .tne diechnrge of his ofliciaUiuty, he is to follow no guide but his own sense of 
the interest of the people, he might feel bound to counteract the operations of this 
dangerous monopoly, diminish its circulation, curtail its means, and prejudice its 
credit. To accomplish these very purposes, and these alone, he might withdraw the 



I.IFK OF DANltU WEBSTER. Vj 

deposites. Tlie power given him hv Conjrress would thus be used lo d.Ttai tlic will of 
Congress in one of iis most iiiipoiiani nets, hy di.screditint.', and ollierwise iniuriously 
afi'eciini; nn institution whieh Congress has seen fit to establish, and whu h it has 
declared shall continue, with all its powers, to the expiration of i'.s tliarter. 

'The power conferred on the .Secretary is a trust power, and, like other trust pow- 
ers, in the absence of express terms setting forth the occa.^ions for its exercise, it is to 
be construed according to the subject and object of the irust. As in oilier cases of 
the deposite of moneys in banks, the primary objce; sought to be aeeomplishtd Ly 
Congress, by that provision of the charter now under consideration, is the safe keep- 
ing of the money. The Necrtlary's trust, therefore, primarily and pniieipaliy, respects 
tli'is .«afc keeping. But another object is distinctly disclosed in the chnrfer, winch object 
is intimately connected with the fund, and that is, its transler aiidexchuiif^i Iroin place 
to place, as the convenience of Government might ntiuire. 'J he SeeiLlary s trust, 
therefore, respects also this other object tints (onnected with the tuna; and whtn 
either of these objects reqiures a removal, a removal becomes a just exi-nise ot Ins 
authority. To this extent, none can doubt the existence of his power. II, in tniih, 
the money is believed to be unsafe j if, in truth, the bank will not grant the laciiitK s 
which it has promised, in consi'ieration of receiving and holding the fund, then, .'er- 
tainly, it ought to be removed. But here the power nuist stop, or else it is altogether 
unbounded. Here is a just and reasonable limit, consistent wiih llie eharacier id the 
power, consistent with the general duties of the Secretary, and consistent witli tlu> 
nature of the remedy provided. -n i- , i • i 

'The charter of the bank is the law : it is the expressed will of the legislature. 
That will is, that the bank shall exist, with all its powers, to the end of its term. 
That will, too, as the committee think, is, that the : ublic deposites shall coninuie in 
the bank so long as they are safe, and so long as the bunk fulfils all its duty in regard 
to them. The Secretary assumes broader ground. He claims a right to judge ol the 
proceedings of the bank, on all subjects. Admitting the fund to be safe, and admit- 
ting that the bank has performed all its duties in legard to it, he claims an au- 
thority, nevi-rtheless, to remove the deposites whenever he shall lorm an opinior,, 
founded on the conduct of the bank in any particular whatever, and howev.r un- 
connected with the public moneys, that the general interest of the people requires 
such removal. If, in his opinion, it discounts too little, or discounts too much ; it 
it expands or contracts us circulation too fast or too slow; if its committees are 
not properly organized ; if it claim damages on protested bills, which it ought nut 
to claim ; if, in his opinion still, it is guilty of a wrongful meddling in politics, or it 
it do any thing else not consistent with bis sense of the public interest, he has u right 
to visit it with a withdrawal of the public money from its custody. 

'If this claim of power be admitted, it would seem to the committee to be a fair 
result, that the Sccreiary ha.s power to withdraw the diposites, for no other riasoii 
than that he differs with Congress upon its eonstinitional autliority to cr.-ato any 
bank, or upon the constitutionality of this particular bank, or U|.on the utility ol fon- 
tinuing it in the exercise of its chartered powers and privileges, tid its term shall ex- 
pire. . , . , . • r 1 T 

'The committee, therefore, arc of opinion that it was not the intention ot the Le- 
gislature to give to the Secretary of the Treasury a general guardianship over the 
public interests in all matters connected with the lank ; but that his powir is a lim- 
ited one, and is confined to the safety, and the proper management of that portion c) 
the public intertst to which it expressly relates ; that is to say, to the public money.'* 
in diiiosite in tlie bank.' , , ,. , ,t 

We would ask our readers to notice Mr. Webster's s»peeeh, delivered i\Iny 7, IM-f, 
on the subject of the Protest sent bv the Presiueiit to the Senate, stating the rights 
and duties of the Executive. Thi.s singular document roused the spirit ol Irecnieii in 
the Senate; for thty thought that its doctrines were in themselves arbitrary, find uu- 
conslitutional; directly infringing on the rights of the Senate, and all kg. hiiive 
rights. The Senate took fire at these doctrines, and on the 7th ot May, IMi^, iili. 
VVebster made the speech which has been so much t xtolled by his own countryinni, 
and by those abroad, who have studied the Constinilion of the Dnited States. Mr. 
Webster examines the claims of power ;i]leged in the Protest, and in pursuance ot 
the examination, makers, among many others, the following lemarks : 

'Mr. President, the Kxecuiive claim of power isexai lly tins ; that the President may 
keep the miMiey of the i)ublic in whatever banks he ihoo.'-e.s on whatever terms he 
chooses, and to apply the sums which these banks are w ilhng to pay lor its ime to 
whatever purpo!5es he chiKises. Thi se sums are not to come into the general Trea- 
sury. They are to be appropriated before they get liiere ; they are nevi r to be brought 
under the control of Congress ; they are to be p.iid to officers aiid agents not Know r, 
to the law, not nominated to the Senate, and resr/ontible to nobody but the L.xccu- 



94 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

tive itsplf. I ask gentlemen, if all this be lawful? Are they prepared lo defend it? 
Will they stand up and justify it ? In my opinion, sir, it is a clear and a most danger- 
ous assumption of power. It is the creation of office, without law; the appoint- 
ment to office, without consulting the Senate; the establishment of a salary, without 
law ; and the payment of that salary out of a fund whicn itself is derived from the use 
of the public treasures. This, sir, is my other reason fur concurring in the vote of 
the 28th of March ; and on these grounds I leave the propriety of that vote, so far as 
1 am concerned with it, to be judged of by the country. 

'But, sir, the President denies tne power of the Senate to pass any such resolution, 
on any ground whatever. Suppose the declaration contained in the resolution to be 
true; suppose the President had. in fact, assumed powers not granted to him; does 
the Senate possess the right to declare its opinion, affirming this fact, or does it not ? 
I maintain the Senate does possess such a power ; the President denies it. 

'Mr. President, we need not look far, nor search deep, for the foundation of this 
right in the Senate. It is clearly visible, and close at hand. In the first place, it is 
the right of self-defence. In the second place, it is a right, founded on the duty of 
representative bodies, in a free government, to defend the public liberty against en- 
croachment. We must presume that the Senate honestly entertained the opinion 
expressed in the resolution of the 23th of March; and entertaining that opinion, its 
right to express is but the necessary consecpience of its right to defend its own con- 
stitutional authority, as one branch of the Government. This is its clear right, and 
this, too, is its imperative duty. 

'If one, or both the other branches of the Government happen to do that which 
appears to us inconsistent with the constitutional rights of the Senate, will any one 
say that the Senate is yet bound to be passive, and to be silent ; to do nothing, and 
to say nothing? Or if one branch appears to encroach on the righisof the other two, 
have these two no power of remonstrance, complaint, nor resistance ? Sir, the ques- 
tion may be put in a still more striking form. Has the Senate a right to have an 
opinion in a case of this kind ? If it may have an opinion, how is that opinion to be 
a-certained but by resolution and vote? The objection must go the whole length ; 
it must maintain that the Senate has not only no right to express opinions, but no 
right to form opinions on the conduct of the Executive Government, though in iiiat- 
ters intimately affecting the powers and duties of the Senate itself. It is riot possible, 
sir, that sucli a doctrine can be maintained for a single moment. All political bodies 
resist what they deem encroachments, by resolutions expressive of their sentiments, 
and their purpose to resist such encroachments. When such a resolution is presented 
for their consideration, the question is, whether it be true; not whether the body has 
authority to pass it, admitting it to be true. The Senate, like other public bodies, is 
perfectly justifiable in defending, in this mode, either its Legislative or Executive au- 
thority. The usages of Parliament, the practice in our State Legislatures and Assem- 
blies, both before and since the Revolution, and precedents in the Senate itself fully 
maintain this right. The case of the Panama mission is in point. In that case, Mr. 
I5ranch, from Norih Carolina, introduced a resolution, which, after reciting that the 
President, in his annual messap;, and in his communication to the Senate, had as- 
■surled that he possessed an authority to make certain appointments, although the ap- 
pointments had not been made, went on to declare that "o silent acquiescence, on the 
part of this body, may, at some future time, be drawn into dangerous precedent;'' 
and to resolve, therefore, that the President does not possess the right or power said 
to be claimed by him. This resolution was discussed, and finally laid on the table. ' 
But the question discussed was, whether the resolution was correct, in fact and prin- 
.ciple; not whether the Senate had any right to pass sucii a resolution. So far as 1 
ireinember, no one pretended that, if the President had exceeded his authority, the 
.Senate might not so declare by resolution. No one ventured to contend that, whether 
the right* of the Senate were mvaded or not, the Senate must hold its peace. 

'The protest labors strenuously to show that the Senate adopted the resolution of 
the 2Sth March, under its judicial authority. The reason of this attempt is obvious 
.euaugh. If the Senate, in its judicial character, has been trying the President, then 
he has not had a regular and formal trial ; and, on that ground, it is hoped the public 
sympathy nnty be moved. But the Sen;\te has acted not in its judicial, but in ils le- 
gislative capacity. As a legislative body, it has defended its own just authority, and 
the authority of the other branch of the Legislature. Whatever attacks our own 
rights and privileges, or whatever encroaches on the power of both Houses, we may 
oppose and resist, by declaration, resolution, or other similar proceeding. If we look 
to the books of precedents, if we examine the journals of legislative bodies, we find, 
every wiiere, instances of such proceedings. 

' It is to be observed, sir, that the protest imposes silence on the House of Repre- 
sentatives as well as on the Senate. It declares that no power is conferred on either 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 95 

branch of the Legislature, to consider or decide upon official acts of the Executive, for 
the nurpose of censure, and without a view to legislation or impeachment. This, I 
think, sir, is pretty high-toned pretension. According to this doctrine, neither House 
can assert its own rights, however the Executive might assail them; neither House 
could pomi out the danger to the People, however fast Executive encroachment might 
be extending itself, or whatever danger it might threaten to the public liberties. If 
the two Houses of Congress may not express an opinion of Executive conduct by 
resolution, there is the same reason why they should not express it in any other form, 
or by any other mode of proceeding. Indeed, the protest limits both Houses, expressly 
to the case of impeachment. If the House of Representatives are not about to im- 
peach the President, they have nothing to say of his measures, or of his conduct ; and 
unless the Senate are engaged in trying an impeachment, their mouths, too, are stop- 
ped. It is the practice of the Executive to send us an annual message, in which he 
rehearses the general proceedings of the Executive for the past year. This message 
we refer to our committees for consideration. But, according to the doctrine of the 
protest, they can express no opinion upon any Executive proceeding, upon which it 
gives information. Suppose the President had told us, in his last annual message, 
what he had previously told us in his cabinet paper, that the removal of the deposites 
was his act, done on his responsibility; and tnat the Secretary of the Treasury had 
exercised no discretion, formed no judgment, presumed to have no opinion whatever 
on the subject. This part of the message would have been referred to the Committee 
on Financ(!; but what could they say? They think it shows a plain violation of the 
Constitution and the laws; but the President is not impeached; therefore, they can 
express no censure. They think it a direct invasion of legislative power, but they 
must 4iot say so. They may, indeed, commend, if they can. The grateful business of 
praise is lawful to them ; but if, instead of commendation and applause, they find 
cause for disapprobation, censure, or alarm, the protest enjoins upon them absolute 
silence. 

' Formerly, sir, it was a practice for the President to meet both Houses, at the open- 
ing of the session, and deliver a speech, as is still the usage in some of the State Le- 
gislatures. To this speech there was an answer from each House, and tliose answers 
expressed, freely, the sentiments of the House upon all the merits and and faults of 
the Administration. The discussion of the topics contained in the speech, and the 
debate on the answers, usually drew out the whole force of parties, and lasted some- 
times a week. President Washington's conduct, in every year of his adniinistratii.n, 
was thus freely and publicly canvassed. He did not complain of it; he did not doubt 
that both Houses had a perfect right to comment, with the utmost latitude, consistent 
with decorum upon all his measures. Answers, or amendments to answers, were 
not unfrequently proposed, very hostile to his own course of public policy, if not sonit- 
tiines borderinj^ on disrespect. And when they did express respect and regard, ihere 
were votes ready to be recorded against the expression of those sentiments. To all 
this, Presiiient Wasliington took no exception ; for he well knew that these, and simi- 
lar proceedings, belonged to the power of popular bodies. But if the President were 
now to meet us with a speech, and should inform us of measures adopted by himself 
in the rec( ss, which should appear lo us the most plain, palpable, and dangc'rous vio- 
lations of the Constitution, we must, nevertheless, either keep respectful silence, or 
fill our answer merely with courtly phrases of approbation. 

' Sir, 1 know not who wrote this protest, but I confess I am truly astonished, as 
well at the want of knowledge which it displays of constitutional law, as at the high 
and dangerous preterisions which it puts forth. Neither branch of the Legislature 
can express censure upon the President's conduct ! Supr ose, sir, that we should see 
him enlisting; troops, and raising an army, can we say nothing, and do nothing 7 Sup- 
pose he were to declare w ar against a foreign Power, and put the army and fleet in 
action, are we still to be silent? Suppose we should see him " borrutrins money on 
the credit of tin: United States;" are we yet to wait for impeachment '? Indee.d, sir, 
in regard to this borrowing money, on the credit of the United States, I wish to call 
the attention of the Senate not only to what might hap|)en, but to what has actually 
liappen<d. We are informed that the Post Office Department, a Department over 
which the President claims the same control as over the rest, has actually borrowed 
near half a ridllion of money on the credit of the United States. 

' Mr. President, the first power granted to "Congress by the Constitution is the pow- 
er to lay taxes ; the second the power to borrow money on the credit of the United 
States. .\ow, sir, where does the Executive find its authority, in or through any I^e- 
partment, to borrow money without authority of Congress ? This proie( ding appears 
to me wholly illegal, and reprehensible in a very high degree. It may be said that it 
is not true that this money is borrowed on the credit of the United States, but that it 
la borrowed on the credit of the Post Office Department. But that would be mere 



96 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

fvasion. The Department is bat a name. It is an office, and nothing more. The 
hanks have, not lent this money to any oftifr. If Congress should abohsh the whole 
Department to-morrow, would the bank ici expect the United States to replace this 
borrowed money '? The money, then, is biorowed on the credit of the United States; 
an act which Congress alone is competent to anihorize. If the Post Office Depart- 
ment may borrow money, so may the War Department, and the Navy Department. 
If half a million may be borrowed, ten millions may be borrowed. What, then, if 
this transaction shall be justified, is to hinder the E.xecu live from borrowing money, 
to maintain fleets and armies, or for any other purpose, at his pleasure, without any 
authority of law? Yet, even this, according to the doctrine of the protest, we have 
no right to complain of We have no right to declnrc that an E.xecutive Department 
has violated the Constitution and broken the law. by borrowing money on the credit 
of the United Stales. Nor could we make a similar declaration if we were to seethe 
Executive, by means of this borrowed money, enlisting armies, and equipping fleets. 
And yet, sir, the President has found no difficulty heretofore, in expressing his opin- 
ions, in a paper not called for by the exercise of any official dvty, upon the conduct 
and proceedings of the two Houses of Congress. At the commencement of this ses- 
sion he seni us a message commentingon the land bill which the two Houses passed 
!'t the end of the last session. That bill he had not approved, nor had he returned it 
wiili objections. Congress was dissolved, and the bill, therefore was completely dead, 
and could not be ievived. No communication from him could have the least possible 
efiect as an (dficial act. Yet be saw fit to send a message on the subject, and in that 
message he very freely declares his opinion, that the bill which had passed both Hou- 
ses bc^anwith an entire subccrsion of er cry one of the compacts by which, the United 
States became possessed of their western domain ; that one of its provisions was in 
direct and undisguised violation of the pled/re gire.ji by Consrrss to the States; that 
the Constitution "provides that these compacts shall be untouched by 'he legislative 
pov^'er, v.'liich can oidy make needful rules and regulations; and that all beyond that 
is an. assuinplioii of ii.n dele seated power. 

' These are th.e terms in which the President speaks of an act of the two Houses ; in 
no official paper, in no communication which it was necessary for him to make to 
them ; but in a message, adopted only as a mode through which to make public these 
fipiiiions : afier this it would seem too late to enjoin on the Houses of Congress a to- 
tal forbearance from all comment on the measures of the Executive. 

' Not only is it the ri-jlit of both Houses, or of either, to resist by vote, declaration, 
or resolution, wliaiever it may deem an encroachment of Executive power, but it is 
also undoubtedly the right of either House to oppose in like manner any encroach- 
ment by file other. The two Houses have each its own appropriate powers and au- 
thorities wliicii it is bound to preserve., They have, too, different constituents. The 
n)embers of die Senate are representatives of Stales; and it is in the Senate alone 
that the four and twenty States as political bodies, have a direct influence in the legis- 
lative and executive powers of this government. He is a strange advocate of State 
rights, who maintains that this body, thus representing the Slates, and thus being the 
strictly federal branch of the Legislature, mav not assert and maintain all anil singu- 
lar Its own powers and privileges, against either or both of the other branches. 

' If any thing be done or threatened, derogatory to the rights of the States, as secu- 
red by tlie organization of the Senate, may we not lift up our voices against it? Sup- 
pose the House of Representatives simuld vote that the Senate ought not to propose 
amenriments to revenue bills; would it be the duty of the Senate to take no notice 
of such (iroceeding? Or, if we were to see the President issuing commissions to office 
to persons who had never been nominated to the Senate, are we not to remonstrate ? 

' Sir, there is no end of case.?, no end of illustrations. The doctrines of the protest, 
in this respect, cannot stand the slightest scrutiny ; they are blown away by the first 
breath of discussion.' 

' And yet. sir, it is easy to perceive why this right of declaring its sentiments, respect- 
ing the conduct of the Executive, is denied to either House, in its legislative capacity. 
It is merely that the Senate might be presented in the odious light of trying the Pres- 
ident, judicially, without regular accusation or hearing. The protest declares that the 
Viemdcnt is charged with a crimc^ and without hearing or trial, found guilty and 
condemned. This is evidently an attempt to appeal to popular feeliu" and to repre- 
sent the President as unjustly treated and unfairly tried. Sir, it is a false appeal. The 
President has not been tried at all : he has not been accused ; he has not been charged 
with crime; he has not been condemned. Accusation, trial, and sentence, are terma 
belonging to judicial proceedings. But the Senate has been engaged in no such pro- 
ceeding. The resolulion of the '28th of I\Iarch was not an exercise of judicial power, 
either in form, in substance, or in intent. E^very body knows that the Senate can ex- 
ercise no judicial power until articles of impeachment are brought before it. It is then 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEEdTEH. 97 

to proceed, by accusation and answer, hearing, trial, and judgment. But there has 
biien no impeachment, no answer, no hearing;, no jiiclf^ment. All that the Senate did 
was to pass a resolution, '.n li^i,'islative form, aoclaruig its ojiinion of certain acts of tlio 
Kxecutive. This resolution iiiipuied no crime, a cliarged no corrupt motive ; it pro- 
posed no punishment, it wasdirecied, not against the President, jjersonally, hut against 
tiie act ; and that act it declared to be, in its judgment, an assumption of authority 
not warranted by the (Jonstitution. 

'It is in vain that the Protest attempts to shift the resolution on the judicial char- 
acter of the Senate. The case is too plain for such an argument to be [ilausible. Hut 
ill order to lay some foundation for it, the Protest, as I have already said, contends that 
neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives can express its opinions on the con- 
duct of the President, except in soineform connected with iinpeachmcni ; so that, if the 
power of impeachment did not exist, these two Houses, though they be representative 
bodies, lluiugh one of them be filled by the immediate representatives of the people, 
though they be consiiiuted like other popular and representative bodies, could not 
utter a syllable, although they saw the Fvxocutive either trampling on iheirown rights 
and privileges, or grasping at absolute authority and dominion over the liberties oi" the 
country ! Sir, I hardly know how to speak of such claims of impunity for Executive 
cncroacliment. I am amazed that any American ciiizen should draw up a paper con- 
taining such lofty pretensions; pretensions, which would have been met with scorn 
in England, at any time since the Revolution of 16SS. A man who should stand up, 
in either House of the British Parliament, to maintain that ihe House could not, by 
vote or resolution, maintain its own rights and privileges, would make even the tory 
benches hang their heads for very shame. There was, indeed, a time when such 
proceedings were not allowed. Some of the kings of the Stuart race would not ttile- 
rate them. A signal instance of royal displeasure with the proceedings of Parliament, 
occurred in the latter part of the reign of James the First. The House of Commons 
had spoken, on some occasion, "of its own undoubted riirhts and pririlc^es." The 
King thereupon sent them a letter, declaring that hr. would not allow that they hud 
any undoubted rights; bti.t that what they enjoyed they mi ^ht still hold by hii- own 
royal p.raceand penninslon. Sir Edward Coke and iMr. Granville were not salistied 
with this title to their privileges; and, under their lead, the House entered on its jour- 
nals a resolution, asserting its privileges, as its own undoubted right, and manifesting 
a determination to maintain them as such. Thi^, says the historian, so enrng('il his 
majesty, that he sent for the journal, had it brought into the council^ and there, in the 
presence of his lords and great officers of state, tore out the ofiensive resolution, with 
his own royal hand. He then dissolved Parliament, and sent its most refractory 
members to the Tower. 1 have no fear, certainly, sir, that this English example will 
be followed, on this occasion, to its tuU extent ; nor would I insinuate that any thing 
outrageous has been thought of, or intended, except outrageous pretensions ; but such 
pretensions I must iminite to the author of this protest, whoever that author is. 

' When this and the other House shall lose the freedom of speech and debate ; when 
they shall surrender the rights of publicly and freely canvassing all important meas- 
ures of the executive; when they shall not be allowed to maintain their own authority 
and their own privileges by vote, declaration, or resolution, they will then be no longer 
free representatives of a free people, but slaves themselves, and fit instruments to 
make slaves of others. 

'The Protest, Mr. President, concedes what it doubtless regards as a liberal right 
of discussion to the people themselves. Rut its language, even in acknowledging this 
right of the people to discuss the conduct of their servants, is qualified and peculiar. 
The free people of the United States, it declares, " have an undoubted right to discuss 
the official conduct of the President, in such language and form as they may think 
proper, subject only to the restraint of truth and justire." Hut then, who is to be judge 
of this truth and justice? Are the people to judge for themselves, or are others to jiuige 
for them 7 The protest is here speaking of political rights, and not moral rights ; and 
if restraints are iinnosojd on political rights it must follow, of course, that others are to 
decide, whenever tlie case arises, whether these restraints have been violated. It is 
strange that the writer of the Protest did not perceive that, by using this language, lie 
was pushing thy President into a direct avowal of the doctrines of 1798. Thetextofihe 
Protest, ana the text of the obnoxious act of that yetir, are nearly identical. 

' But sir, if the people have a right to discuss the official conduct of the Execufive, 
so have their representatives. We haVe been taught to regard a representative of the 
people as a sentinel on the watch-tower of liberty. Is he to be blind, though visible 
danger approaches'? Is he to he deaf, though sotinds of peril fill the air? Is he to 
be dumb, while a thousand duties impel him to raise the cry of alarm? Is he not, 
rather, to catch the lowest whisper which breathes intention or purpose of encroach- 
ment on the public lib(;rtie.s, and to give his voice breath and utterance at the firsl 

9 



98 LIKE OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 

appearance of danger? Is not his eye to traverse the whole horizon, with the keen 
and eaeer vision of an unhooded hawk, detecting, through all disguises, every enemy 
advancing, in any form, towards the citadel which he "uards? iSir, this warchCul- 
ness for public liberty, this duty of foreseeing danger and proclaiming it, this promp- 
titude and boldness in resisting attacks on the Constitution from any quarter, this de- 
fence of established landmarks, this fearful resistance of wiiatever would transcend 
or remove them, all belong to the representative character, are interwoven with its 
very nature, and of which it cannot be deprived, without converting an active, intelli- 
gent, faithful agent of the people, into an unresisting and passiveinstrumcnt of power. 
A representative body which gives up these rights and duties, givts itself up. It is a 
representative body no longer. It has broken the tie between itself and its constitu- 
ents, and henceforth is fit only to be regarded as an inert self-sacrificed mass, Irom 
which all appropriate principle of vitality has departed for ever. 

"I have thus endeavored to vindicate the right of the Senate to pass the resolution 
of the 28th of March, notwithstanding the denial of that right in the Protest. 

' But there are other sentiments and opinions expressed in the Protest of the very 
highest importance, and which demand nothing less than our utmost attention. 

'The first object of a free people is the preservation of their liberty; and liberty 
is only to be preserved by maintaining constitutional restraints and just divisions of 
political power. Nothing is more deceptive, or more dangerous, than the pretence of 
a desire to simplify government. The simplest eovernmenis are despotisms; the 
ne.xt simplest, liiniled monarchies; but all republics, all governments of law, must 
impose numerous limitations and qualifications of authority, and give many iiositive 
and many qualified rights. In other words, they must be subject to rule and regula- 
tion. This is the very essence of free political institutions. The spirit of liberty is 
indeed a bold and fearless spirit ; but it is also a sharpsight:;d spirit : it is a cautious, 
sagacious, discriminating, far-seeing, intelligence; it is jealous of encroachnieiit, 
jealous of power, jealous of man. Ii demands checks, it seeks for guards, it in- 
sists on securities; it entrenchts itself behind strong defences, and fortifies with 
all possible care, against the assaults of ambition and passion. It does not trust 
the amiable weaknesses of human nature, and therefore it will not permit power 
to overstep its prescribed limits, though benevolence, good intent, and patriotic 
purpose, come along with it. Neither does it satisfy itself with flashy and temporary 
resisiance to illegal authority. Far otherwise. It seeks for duration and permanence. 
It looks before and after, and building on the experience of ages which are past, it 
hibors diligently for the benefit of ages to come ; this is the nature of constitutional 
liberty ; and this is our liberty, if we will rightly understand and preserve it. Every free 
government is necessarily complicated, because all such governrnents establish re- 
straints, as well on thepower of government its( If as on that of individuals. If we will 
abolish the distinction of branches, and have but one branch ; if we will abolish jurv 
trials, and leave all to the judge ; if we will then ordain that the legislator shall himself 
be that jnd"e ; and if we wdl place the e.xecutive power in the same hands — we may 
readily simplify government. We may easily bring it to the simplest of all possible 
forms, a pure despotism. But a separation of departments so far as practicable, and 
the preservation of clear lines of division between them, is the fundamental idea in 
the creation of all our constitutions; and doubtless the continuance of regulated liberty 
depends on maintaining these boundaries. 

In the progress, sir, of the Government of the United States, we seem exposed to 
two classes of dangers or disturbances ; one external, the other internal. It may hap- 
pen that collisions arise between this Govcrnmeiii and the Governments of the Stales. 
That case belongs to the first class. A memorable instance of this kind existed last 
year. It was my conscientious opinion, on that occasion, that the authority claimed 
by an individual Slate was subversive of the just powers of this Government, and, 
indeed incompatible with its existence. I gave a hearty co-operation, therefore, to 
measures whicli the crisis seemed to remiire. We have now before us what npi)ears, 
to my judgment, to be an instance of the latter kind. A contest has arisen between 
different brandies of the same Government, interrupting their harmony, and threat- 
ening to disturb theii- balance. It is of the highest importance, therefore, to examine 
the question carefully, and to decide it justly. 

'The separation of the powers of Government into three departments, though all 
our constitutions profess to be founded on il, has, nevertheless, never been perfectly 
eetablished in any Government of the world, and perhaps never can be. The general 
principle is of inestimable value, and the leading lines of distinction sufliciently plain ; 
yet there are powers of so undecided a character, that they do not seem necessarily 
to range themselves under either head. And most of our constitutions, too, haviiig 
laid down the general principle, inmicdiately create exceptions. There do not exist in 
the general science of Rovernment or the received maxims of political law, such pre- 



LirE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 99 

cise definitions, as unable us always to say, of a i;ivtn p;nver, whetlier it be Iet;isla- 
live, executive, or judicial. And this is one reason, doubtless, why the Consiituiiou, 
in conferring power on all the dipnrinients, proceeds not by general definition, but by 
specilic enumeration. And again, it grants a power in general terms, but yet, in the 
same, or some other article or section, imposes a limiiaiion or quaiitication on the 
grant; and the grant and the limitation must, of course, be construed together. Thus 
the Constitution says, that all legislative power, therein granted, shall be vested in 
Congress, which Congr3ss shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives; 
and yet, in another article, it gives to the President a qualified negative over all acts 
of Congress. So the Constitution declares that the judicial power shall be vested in 
one Supreme Court, and such inferior Courts as (;ongress may establish. It gives, 
nevertheless, in another provision, judicial power to the Senate; and, in like maiuKT, 
though it diclares that the executive power shall be vested in the President, using in 
the immediate conte.xi, no words of liiiiitaiion, yet it elsewhere sut)j_ecis the ^treaty- 
making power, and the appointing power, to the concurrence of the Striate. The ir- 
resistible inference from these considerations, is, that the mere nomination of a de- 
partment, as one of itie three great and commonly acknowledged dej-artinents of 
Government, does not confer on that department any power at all. Notwithstanding 
the departments are called the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, we must \et 
look into the provisions of the Constitution itself, in order to learn, firsi, what powers 
the Constitution regards as legislative, executive, and judicial , and. in the next place, 
what portions or quantities of these i)owers, are conferred on the resj;ective depart- 
ments; because no one will contend that ull legislative power belongs to Congr.-ss 
all executive power to tlje President, or a/Z judicial power to the Courts of the United 
States. , , • 

'The first three articles of the Constitution, as all known, are employed in prescrib- 
ing the organization, and enumerating ihe power.s, of the three departments. The 
first article treats of the Legislature, and its first section is: "All legislaiive pow- 
ers, herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." 

'The second article treats of the Executive power, and its first section declares 
that "the executive power shall be vested in a President of the United Stales of 
America." 

'The third article treats of the judicial power, and its first section declares that 
" the judicial pov.er of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and 
in such inferior Courts as the Congress may, from time to tirne, ordain and establish." 

'It is too plain to be doubted, I think, sir, that these descriptions of the persons or 
oflFicers, in whom the Executive and the Judicial powers are to be vested, no more 
defines the extent of the grant of those powers, than the words quoted from the first 
article describe the extent of the legislative grant to Congress. All these several ti- 
tles, heads of articles, or introductory clauses, with the general declarations which 
they contain, serve to designate the departments, and to mark the general d.snibu- 
tion of powers ; but in all the departments, in the executive and judicial as well as 
the legislative, it would be unsafe to contend for any specific power under such clauses. 

'If we look inro the State Constitutions, we shall find the line of distinction be- 
tween the departments siill less perfectly drawn, although tiie general principle of the 
distinction is laid down in most of them, and, in some of them, in very positive and 
emphatic terms. In some of these States, notwithstanding the principle of distri- 
bution is a lopted and sanctioned, the Legislature appoints the Judges; and in others 
it appoints both the Governor and the Judges; and m others, again, it appoints not 
onlv the judges, but all other officers. 

'The infrrences which, I think, follow from the.se views of the subject, are two: 
First, that the denomination of a department does not fix the limits of the powers 
conferred on it, nor even their exact nature ; and, second, (." hich indeed follows from 
the first,) that, in our .'Vmerican Governments, the Ciiief Executive Magistrate does 
not necessarily, and by force of his general character of Supreme Executive, p()ssess 
the appointing power. He may have it, or he may not, according to the particular 
provisions applicable to each case, in the resjieciive coii.><iitulions. 

'The President appears to have taken a dilii?r'-nt view of this subject. He seems 
to regard the appointing power as originally and inhf rentjy m the Executive, and a.s 
remaining absolute in his hand, except so far as the Constitution restrains it. This I 
do not agree to, and shall have occasion hereafter to exaniine the question further. 
I have intended, thus far, only to insist on the high and indispensable duty of main- 
taining the division of power, as the CunstUulion has marked that division out ; and 
to oppose claims of authority not founded on express grants or necessary implication, 
but sustained merely by argument, or inference, from names or denominations given 
to departments. 



100 LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

'Mr. President, the resolutions now before us declare, that the Protest asserts pow- 
ers, as belonging to the President, inconsistent witii the authority of the twp Houses 
of Congress, and inconsistent with the Constitution; and that the Protest itself is a 
breach of privilege. I believe all this to be true. 

' The doctrines of the Protest are inconsistent with the authority of the two Houses, 
because, in my judgment, they deny the just extent of tht- law-making power. I take 
the Protest as it was sent to us, wi'thout inquiring how far the subsequent message 
has modified or explained it. It is singular, indeed, that a paper so long in prepara- 
tion, so elaborate in composition, and which is put forth for so high a purpose as tlie 
Protest avows, should not be able to stand an hour's discussion before it became evi- 
dent that it was indispensably necessary to alter or explain its contents. Explained, 
or unexplained, the paper contains sentiments which justify us, as I think, in adopt- 
ing these resolutions. 

In the first place, I think the Protest a clear breach of privilege. It is a reproof or 
rebuke, of the Senate, in language hardly respectful for the exercise of a power clearly 
belonging to it as a legislative body. It entirely misrepresents the proceedings of the 
Senate. I find this paragraph in it among others of a similar tone and character : 
"A majority of the Senate, whose interference with the preliminary question has, for 
the best of all reasons, been studiously excluded, anticipate the action of the House 
of Representatives, assume not only the function which belongs exclusively to that 
bodv, but convert themselves into accusers, witnesses, counsel and judges, and pre- 
judge the whole case. Thus presenting the appalling spectacle, in a free State, of 
judges going through a labored preparation for an impartial hearing and decision, by 
a previous ex parte investigation and sentence against the supposed offender." 

'Now sir, this paragraph, I am bound to say, is a total misrepiesenration of the 
proceedings of the Senate. A majority of the Senate have not anticipated the House 
of Representatives; thev have not assumed the functions of that body; they have 
not converted themselves into accusers, witnesses, counsel or judges. Thev have 
made no ex parte investigation ; they have given no sentence. This paragraph is an 
elaborate perversion of the whole proceedings of the Senate. A protest, sent to us 
by the President, against votes which the Senate has an unquestionable right to pass, 
aiid containing too, such a misrepresentation of these votes as this paragraph mani- 
fests, is a breach of privilege. 

'But there is another breach of privilege. The President interferes between the 
members of the Senate and their constituents, and charges them with acting contrary 
to the will of thoseconstituents. He says it is his right and duty to look to the jour- 
nals of the Senate, to ascertain who voted for the resolution of the 2Sth of March, and 
then to show that individual Senators have, by their votes on that resolution, diso- 
beyed the instructions, or violated the known w ill of the Legislatures who appointed 
them. All this he claims, as his right and his duty. And w here does he find any such 
right, or any such duty? What right has he to send a message to either House of 
Conyress, telling its members that they disobey the will of their constituents'.' Has 
any English sovereign, since Cromwell's time, dared to send such a message to Par- 
liament. Sir, If he can tell us that some of us disobey our constituents, he can tell 
us that all do so ; and, if we consent to receive this language from him, there is but 
one remaining step; and that is, that since we thus disobey the will of our constituents, 
lie should disperse us and send us home. In my opinion, the first step in this process 
is as distinct a breach of privilege as the last. If Cromwell's examples shall be fol- 
lowed out, it will not be more clear than it is now, that the privileges of the Senate 
have been violated. There is yet something, sir, which surpasses all this; and that is, 
that, after this direct interference, after pointing out those Senators whom he would 
represent as having disobeyed the known will of their constituents, he dii-dalms all 
di:sien of inUr/erin^ at all ! Sir, who could be the v\ rittT of a message, which, in 
thi; first place, makes the President assert such monsiroiis pretensions, and in the next 
line, aflronts the understanding of the Senate by disavowing all right to do that very 
tiling whicn he is doing 7 If there be any thing, sir, in this message, more likely than 
the rest of it to move one from his equanimity, i( is this disclaimer of all design to 
interfere with the responsibility of members of the Senate to their constituents, after 
such interference hacl already been made, in I lie same paper, in the most objectionable 
and offensive form. If it were not for the purpose of telling these Senators that they 
disobeyed the will of the Legislatures of the States they represent,/or what puriwse 
was il that the Protest has pointed out the four Senators, and paraded against them 
the sentiments of their Legislatures'? There can be no other [lurpose. The Protest 
says, indeed, that "these facts belong to the history of these proceedings? To the 
history of what proceedings ? To any proceeding lo which the President was party ? 
To any proceeding to which the Senate was party? Have ihiy any thing to do with 
the resolutions of the S^^th of March? Rut it adils, that these facts are iiut'orlant lo 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 101 

(he just (levehpement of the principles (aid intercuts inrolred in the proceedings. All 
this might be saiil of any other facts. It is mere words. To what principles, lo what 
interest.s, are these facts important ? They cannot be important but in one point of 
view; and that is, as proof, or evid^'iice. that the Senators have disobeyed instructions, 
or acted ag.'iinst the known will of their constituents, in disapproving; the I'resideiit's 
conduct. They have not the sliijhtest bearin,^ in any other way. They do not make 
the resolution of the Senate more or less true, nor its i-ight to pass it more or less clear. 
Sir, these proceedings of the I,egislatures were introduced into this Protest for the very 
pur lose, and no other, of showing that members of the Senate have acted contrary 
to the will of their constituents. Every man sees and knows this to have been the 
sole design; and any other pretence is a mockery to our understandings. And this 
purpose is, in my opinion, an unlawful purpose; it is an unjustifiable intervention be-_ 
tween us and our constituents; and is, therefore, a manifest and flagrant breach of 
privilege. 

'In the ne.xt place, the assertions of the Protest are inconsistent with the just au- 
thority of Congress, because they claim for the Presideiit a power, independent of 
Congress, to possess the custody and control of the public treasures. Let tiiis point 
be accurately e.'camined ; and, in order to avoid mistake, I vvill read the precise words 
of tile Protest : 

"The custody of the public property, under such regulations as may be pr'scribcd 
by legislative authority, has always been considered an appropriate function of the 
executive department in this and all other governments. In accordance with this 
principle, everv species of property belonging to the United States, excepting that which 
IS in tlie use of the several co-ordinate departments of the Government, as means to 
aid them in performing their appropriate functions, is in charge of officers appointed 
by the President, whether it be of lands, or buildings, or merchandise, or provisions, 
or clothing, or arms and munitions of war. The superintendents and keepers of the 
whole are appointed by the President and removable at his vvill. 

" Public money is but a species of public property. It cannot be raised bv taxation 
or custom.s, nor brought into the treasury in any oilier way except by law : but when- 
ever, or howsoever obtained, its custody always has been and always must be, unless 
the constitution be changed, intrusted to the executive department. No officer can he 
created by Congress, for the purpose of taking charge of it, whose appoint;nent would 
not, by the constitution, at once devolve on the President, and who would not be 
responsible to liim for the faithful performance of his duties." 

' And in another place, it declares that " Congress cannot, therefore, take out of the 
hands of the executive department the custody of the public property or money, with- 
out an assunipiion of executive power, and a subversion of tne first principles of the 
constitution." These, sir, are propositions which cannot receive too uiueh attention. 
They affirm, that the custodv of the public money constitutionally and necessarily 
belongs to the Executive; and that, until the Constitution is changed. Congress can- 
not take it out of his hands, nor mal<e any provision for its custody, except by sui:h 
superintendents and keepei-s as are apiointed by the President, and removable at his 
will. If these assertions be correct, we have, indeed, a singular Constitution for a 
republican government; for we give the Executive the control, the custody, and the 
possession, of the public treasury, by original constitutional provisioti; and when 
Congress appropriates, it appropriates only what is already in the President's hands. 

' Sir, I hold these propositions to be sound in neither branch. I maintain that the 
custody of the public money does not necessarily, belong to the Exf;eutive, under this 
government; and I hold, that Congress may so dispo.'^e of it, that it shall be under 
the superintendence of keepers not appointed by the President, nor removable at his 
will. I think it competent for Congress to declare, as Congress did declare in the 
IJank charter, that the public deposites should be made in the Bank. When in the 
Bank, they were not kept by persons appointed by the President, or removable at his 
will. He could not change that custody, nor could it be changed at all, but accord- 
ing to the provisions made in the law itself There was, indeed, a provision in the 
law authorizing the Secretary to change the custodv. But, suppose there had been 
110 such provision; suppose the contingent power had not been given to the Secre 
tary, vvould it not have been a lawful enactment? Wight not the law have provided 
that the public moneys should remain in the Bank, until Congress itself should oth- 
erwise order, leaving no power of removal any where else 7 And if such provision 
had been made, what power, or custody, or control, would the President have possessed 
over them? Clearly, none at all. The act of 3Iay, 1800, directed custom-house 
bonds in places where the Bank, which was then in existence, was situated, or in 
which it had branches, to be deposited in the Bank or its branches, for collection, 
without the reservation of any power of removal to the. Secretary or any body else. — 
i\ow, sir, this was an unconstiiniional law, if the Protest, in the part now under con- 

9* 



102 ■ LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

sideration be correct ; because it placed the public money in a custody beyond the con- 
trol of the President, and in handdof keepers not appointed by him, nor reinovableat 
his pleasure. One may readily discern, sir, the process of reasoning by which the au- 
thor of the Protest brought himself to the conclusion that Congress could not place 
the public moneys beyond the President's control. It is all founded on the power of 
appointment, and the power of removal. These powers, it is supposed, must give the 
President complete control and authority over those who actually nold the rnoney. aiid, 
therefore, must necessarily subject its custody, at all times, to his own individual will. 
This is the argument. . ... 

'It is true, that the appointment of all public officers, with some exceptions, is, by 
the constitution, given to the President, wiih the consent of the Senate ; and as, in 
most cases, public property must be held by some officer, its keepers will generally be 
persons so appointed. But this is only the common, not a necessary consequence, 
of giving the appointing power to the President and Senate. Co>gr<issmay still, if it 
shall see fit, place the public treasure in the hand of no officer appointed by the Pres- 
ident, orremovable by him, but in hands quite beyond his control. Subject to 9ne con- 
tingency only, it did this very thing by the charter of the present Bank ; and it did the 
same thing absolutely, and subject to no contingency, by the law of 1800. The Pro- 
test, in the first place, seizes on the fact that all officers must be appointed by the Pres- 
ident, or on his nomination ; it then assumes the next step, that all officers are, and 
■must be, removable at his pleasure; and then, insisting that public money, like other 
public properly, must be kept by some public officer, it thus arrives at the conclusion 
that it vmst always be in the hands of those who are appointed by the President, and 
who are removable at his pleasure. And it is very clear that the Protest rneans to 
maintain that the /mure of office cannot be so regulated by law as that public officers 
shall not be removable at the pleasure of the President. 

******** 

'But, sir, there is, in this paper, something even yet more strange than these extra- 
ordinary claims of power. There is, sir, a strong disposition, running throguh the whole 
Protest, to represent the Executive Department of this Government, as the pecu- 
liar protector of the public liberty, the chief security on which the people are to 
rtly against the encroachment of other branches of the Government. Nothing can 
be more manifest than this purpose. To this end the protest spreads out the Presi- 
deni's official oath, reciting all its words in a formal quotation ; and yet the oath of 
members of Congress is exactly equivalent. The President is to swear that he will 
"preserve, protect, and defend the constitution;" and members of Congress are to 
swear that they will " support the constitution." There are more words in one oath 
tiian the other," but the sense is precisely the same. Why, then, this reference to his 
official oath, and this ostentatious quotation of it? Would the writer of the Protest 
argue that the oath itself is any grant of power; or that, because the President is to 
"preserve, protect, and defend the constitution," he is, therefore, to use what means 
he pleases, or any means, for such preservation, protection, and defence, except those 
which the constitution and laws have speciallv given him 1 Such an argument would 
be preposterous ; but if the oath be not cited for this preposterous purpose, with what 
design is it thus displayed on the face of the Protest, unless it be to support the general 
idea that the maintenance of the constitution and the preservation of the public liber- 
ties are especially confided to the safe discretion, the sure moderation, the paternal 
guardianship, of e.xecutive power? The oath of the President contains three words, 
all of equal import; that is, that he will preserve, protect, and defend the constitu- 
tion. The oath of members of Congress is expressed in shorter phrase; it is. that 
they will support the constitution. If there be any dilierence in the meaning of the 
two oaths, I cannot di.scern it ; and yet the Protest solemnly and formally arj^ues 
thus : " The duty of defending, so far as in him lies, the iniegrity of the constitution, 
would, indeed, have resulted from the very nature of his office ; but by thus expressing 
it in the official oath or affirmation, which, in this respect differs from that of every 
other functionary, the founders of our republic have attested their sense of its impor- 
tance, and have given to it a peculiar solemnity and force." 

******** 

Mr. Web.ster's observations on the necessity of watching the encroachments of 
Executive power are admirable. 

' Through all this history of the contest for liberty, executive power has been regard- 
ed as a lion whieh must be caged. So far from being the object of enlightened popu- 
lar trust, so far from being considered the natural protector of popular right, it has 
been dreaded, uniformlv, always dreaded, as the great source of its danger. 

' And now, sir, who is he, so ignorant of the history of liberty, at home and abroad; 
who is he, yet dwelling, in his contemplation-s among the principles and dogmas ol 



LIFE OF DANIEI. WERPTF.R. 

the middle ages; who is he, from whose Iwsom all original infusion of American 
?pirit has ht'come so entirely evfiporatf-d and exhaled, as ihat he shall put into the 
nwuili of the President ol" the United States the doctrine that the defence of iiheriy 
V'lturally i-fsullif U) cxccuuvc power, and its peeuliar duty? Who is he, tiiat, gen- 
erous and confiding towards power where it is most danjierous, and ji alous only of 
those wlio can restram i; ; who is lie, that, reversing the order of the State, and up- 
heaving the hase, would poise tiie political pyramid of the political system upoii its 
apex; who is he^ that ovorlooking with eniiitmiit the gnardianshipof the representa- 
tives of the people, and with equal contempt, the higher guardianshio of the people 
themselves; who is he, that declares to us, through the President's lips, that the se- 
curity for freedom rests in executive authority '? Who is he thai helies the hlood and 
libels the fame of his own ancestors, by declaring that thaj, with solemnity of form, 
and force of manner, have invoked the executive power to come to the protection of 
libertv. Who is he that thus charges them with the insanity, or recklessness, of put- 
ting the Iamb beneath the lion's paw? No, sir. Our security is in our watchfulness 
of executive power. It was the constitution of this department, which was intiniiely 
the most difficult part in the great work of creating our present Government. To 
give to the executive d « irtment such power as should make it useful, and yet not 
such as should render it dangerous; to make it efficient, itidepcn ieni and stron" and 
yet to prevent it from sweeping away every thing by its union of military and civil 
authority, by the influence of patronage, and office, and favor ; this, indeed,' was diffi- 
eidt. They who had the work to do, saw the difficuliv, and we see it ; and if we 
would maintain our system, we shall act wisely to that enti, by preserving every re- 
straint and every guard which the Constitution has provided. And when we,"and 
those wlio come after us, have done all that we can do, and all that tliiv can <lo, it 
will be well for us, and for them, if some i)opuIar Executive, bv thopuwcV of patron- 
age and party, and the power, tor), of that very popularity, shall not hereafter prove 
an over-match for all other branches of the novernment. 

' I do not wish, sir, to impair the power of the President, as it stands written down 
in the Constitution, and as great and good trien have hitherto exercised it. In this, 
as in other respects, 1 ain for the Constitution as it is. liut I will not acquiesce in the 
reversal of all just ideas of (Government; I will not <legrade the character of popu- 
lar representaiion ; 1 will not blindly confide, where all experience admonishes me 
to be jealous; I will not trust executive power, vested in the hands of a single mag- 
istrate, to keep the vigils of liberty. 

' Having claimed for the Executive the especial guardianship of the Constitution, 
the protest proceeds to present a summary view of the powers wliich are supposed 
to be conferred em the E,.veeniive by that instrument. .And it is to this jKiri of the 
message, sir, that I would, more than to all others, call the particular atleuticui of the 
Senate. I confess, that it was otily upon careful re-perusal of the paper, that I per- 
ceived the extent to which its assertions of iiower reach. I do not sjjcak, now, of 
the President's claims of powers, as opposed to legislative authority, but of his opin- 
ions as to his own authority, duty and responsibility, as connected with all other of- 
ficers under the Government. He is of opinion that the whole execuiive iiower is 
vested in him, and that he is responsible for its entire exercise; that anujng the duties 
imjiosedon hun, is that of" taking care that the laws be faithfully executed;" and ihat 
"being thus made responsible for the entire action of the executive department, il was 
but reasonable that the power of appointing, overseeing, and controlling those who 
execute the laws— a power in its nature executive— should remain in his hands. It 
is, therefore, not only his right, but ilie Constitution makes it his duly to "nominate, 
and bv and with the advice and consent of the Senate appoint," all "officers of the 
United States whose appointments are not in the Constitution otherwise provided 
for," with a proviso that the aipoiutment of inferior officers may be vested in the 
President alone, in the courts of justice, or in the heads of departments. 

'The first proposition, then, which the protest ass> ris, in regard to the President's 
powers, as Executive Magistrate, is, that the gtmeral duty being imposed on him by 
the constitution, of taking care that the laws be faithfully executed, lie Ihaeby be- 
comes himself rcspoTt.fihle. fur the i-onduct of crcr'j j)i'.i:^oii employed !n the (iuvcrn- 
ment;" "for the entire action," as the paper expresses il, "of the executive depart- 
ment." This, sir, is very dangerous logic. I reject the inference aliogether. No such 
responsibility, nor any thing like it, follows fiotn the general provision of the ( 'onsii- 
tution, making it his duty to sec the laws executed. If it did, we should have, in f ict, 
but one officer in the whole Government. The President would he every bodv. .And 
the protest assumes to the President this whole responsibility for evc^ry other olTwer, 
for th(> very purpose of making the President every body, of .Tiinihilating every tliint; 
like independiMice, resiionsi!)ility, or rharac/rr in all other public agent''. The whole 
responsibility is assumed, in order that it may be more plausibly argued that all ofli- 



]04 LIFK OF DANIEL U'EBdltR. 

cers of Government are, not agents of ihe l:iw, bnt the President's ageBt=, nnd there- 
fore responsible to him alone. If lie he responsible for (iie conduct of ull officers, 
and they be responsible to iiim only, then ii may he iiinintained thnt such officers are 
but his own agents, his sul>siiti;t(s, his depnties. The firsi tiling lo be done, there- 
fore, is to assume the resijonsiliilily for all; and this, you will peneive, sir, is done in 
the fullest manner, in the passac,'es which I h;ive read. Having thus assumed for 
the President the entire responsibility of tlie whole Government, the protest advances 
boldly lo its conclusion, and claims, at once, absolute power over all individuals in 
office, as being merelv the President's aeenls. This is the langiiaL'e: "The whole 
executive power being vested in the President, who is responsible for its exercise, it is 
a necessary consequence that he should have a right to eniploy agents of his own 
choice, to aid him in the performance of his duties, and to discharge thtm when he is 
no longer willing to be responsible for their acts." 

'This, sir, completes the work. Tins hamlsomely rounds olF the whole executive 
system of e.xi;cuiive authority. First, the President has ihe whole responsibility; 
and, then, being thus responsible for all, he has, and ought to have, the whole power. 
\Ve have heard of political uniU\ and our American E.xecutive, as here represented, 
is, indeed, a W7n7. We have a cliarnungly simple Gover » eiit! Instead of many 
officers in different departments, each having appropriate uaues, and each responsi- 
ble for liis own duties, we. are so fortunate as to have to tieal wiili but one officer. 
The President carries on the Government ; all the rest are hut sub-con tractor.s. Sir, 
-whatever name we give him, we have but ONF, EXRCUTIVK OFFICKK. A Bn- 
areus sits in the centre of our system, and with his hundred hands touches every 
thing, moves every thing, controls every thing. I ask, sir, is this republicanism 7 is 
this a Government of laws'? is this legal resi.ionsibility ? 

'According lo the protest, the very duiies, which every officer under the Govern- 
ment perforins, are the duties of the President himself. Il savs that the President 
has a right to employ agents of his own choice, to aid him in the performance of his 
duties. 

'Mr. President, if these doctrines be true, it is idle for us any longer to talk about any 
such thing as a government of laws. We have no goyeriinieiit pf laws, not even the 
semblance or shadow of it ; we have no leg.al responsiliility. We have an Executivr, 
consisting of one person, wielding all oflh:ial power, and which is, to every efTectual 
purpose, completely nvc.s'poiis/ftit. The President declares that he is '_' responsible 
for the entire action of the executive dei)artnient." Responsible? What does he 
mean by l)eing resiion.sible / Does he mean Iri^al vcfipnnnibUity I Certainly not. No 
such thing. Legal responsibility signifies /iVi/jiViVi/ /o punishment fur minrm-ihict or 
mal-administration liut the protest does not mean that the President is liable to 
be impeached and punished, if a Secretary of State should c(Mnmit treason, if a 
collector of the customs should be guilty of bribery, or if a Treasurer should embez- 
zle the public money. It does not mean, and cannot mean, that he should be an- 
swerable for any such crime, or such delinqui'iicy. What, then, is its notion ot that 
responslhilits, which it says the President is Uiider for all officers, and which aullior- 
izeshim lo concider all ufli'UTs as his own personal agents? Sir, it is merely respon- 
sibility to public opinion. It is a liability to be hbimed ; it is the chance of becoming 
unpopular, the danger of losing a re-election. Nothing else is ineanf in die worlil. 
It is the hazard of failiii" in any atiempt or enterprise of aiidiirion. Thi.s is all the 
responsibility to which tlie doctrines of the protest hold the President subject. 

It is precisely the re.'ipi>ni--ll>lllti/ under which Cromwell aitied, when he dispersed 
Parliament, telling its nuMuhers, not in soiuany words, indeed, that they disobeyed 
the will of their coiisiituenis, but telling them that the people were sick of them, and 
that he drove them out "for ihc glory of God. .and the good of the nation." It i.s 
precisely the responsibility upon which IJonaparte broke up the popular assembly of 
France. I do not mean, yir, ceriaiuly, by these illustrations, to insinuate designs of 
violent usurpations against vhe Pres)(lc;nt ; farfrcimil; but I do mean to maintain 
that such responsibiliiy as that with which the protest clothes him, is no legal respon- 
.eibility, no constitutional res|;onsibil.;ty, no n publican resiionsibility ; but a mere lia- 
bility to loss of odice, loss of character, and loss of fame, if he shall choose to \io- 
iate the laws, and overturn the liberty's cd' the country. It is such a responsibility a3 
leaves every thing in his discntiiui, and his pli'asure. 

Sir, it exceeds iiuinan belief thai any man '.•Jiould put sentiments, such as this pa- 
per contains, into a public C(;nirnunieation from the President to the Senate. They 
are sentiments which give us all one master. The protest asserts an ab.'^olutc right 
to remove all persons fnuii offiice, at pleasure; and for what reason? ^ecallSl^ they 
are incapable? Hecause they are remiss, negligent, or inattentive? No, sir, rlieseare not 
the reasons. But he may discharge them, one and all, simply because " he is no longer 
Willing to be rtfponeible for their acts!" It insists on an absoluit right in the President 



LIFE OF DANIF.L WEBSTKR. I Oo 

to direct and control every act of every officer of tiie Government, except llie judfjes. 
It asserts tins right of direct control over and over again. The President may t,'o into 
the Treasury, anionj; the auditors and eoniptrollers, and(/('m7 ti)eiri how to seitlet-vtrv 
man's aceount; what aliatemcnis to niai<el>om one, what additions to anoihur. He 
inay go into the custom house, among collectors and apiunistrs. and may control es- 
thnates, rediietioris and apprais. meiits. It is true that these oflicers are sworn to 
discharge the duties of their respective ofliees honesilv and fairlv, according to their 
vim best abilities; it is true, tliat many of them are liahle to iridielmenf for official 
misconduct, and others responsible, in suits of individuals, fi;r damages and penal- 
ties. It such official miseoiidiict he proved ; hut notwithstanding all this, the protest 
avers, that all these olRcers are hut the President's a<rcnts, that they are l/iit aiding 
him in the discharge of Ins duties, lliat he is responsible for their conduct, and that 
they are removable at his will and pleasure. And it is under this view of his own 
authority, that the President calls the serrelaries A/s secretaries, not once only but 
repeatedly. After half a century's administration of this Government, sir, after we 
have endeavored by statute upon statute, and bv provision following provision, to de- 
fine and limit official authority ; to assign particular duties to particular public ser- 
vants ; to define those duties '? to create penalties for their violation ; to adjus; accu- 
rately the responsibility of each agent, with his own i)ow(;rs and his own duties ; to 
establish the pi;evalence of equal rule; to make the law, as far as possible, every 
thing, and individual will, as far as possible, nothing; after all tliis, the astounding 
a.ssertion rings in our ears, that, throughout the whole range of ofTieial agenev, in its 
smallest ramifications, as well as iii its larger masses, there is but one REsros^-iBiu- 
TY, ONE DIRECTION, ONE WILL ! Truc, indeed, is it, sir, if iluse sentiments he main- 
tained, true, indeed, is it, that a President of the United States may well repeat, from 
Napoleon, what he repeated from Louis 14th, "I am the State." ' 

The speaker protests in turn against every mode of reasoning which the presidt nt 
adopts, and shows that they are fallacious, arbitrary, inconsistent with our whole sys- 
tem of government, and should be opposed by the nation as leading to an amalgamation 
of all authority in one person. It was a wholesome rebuke and should he a memento 
to presidents of the United States who may be elected hereafter, not to iiiierlere 
with the prerogatives of the legislature. This speeth was hailed as a proud refutation 
of e.xeeiitive assumption, and printed in various forms for the use of the people of the 
United Stales, and diffused among all classes of the comimmitv. This speech alone 
would, in the best days of ancient Republics, have given iiniiiortality to anv stern 
and proiul friend of liberty, and the rights of man, in his legishitive capacitv. if he had 
dared avow the doctrines they contained. Such coutiimousefibris are wearintj iii>on tlie 
mind and corporeal faculties of man ; and should not be considered as the mere busi- 
ness of the hour in the course of common duties. They are monuments on the high 
road of freedom that should not be assailed or destroyed by passing travellers. 

The f.jUowiiig is an abstract of Mr. VVebster's speech, on the hill granting an in- 
demnity to the citizens of the United Stales, for French spoilations.on Ameiie;m com- 
nieice, prior to It-OO, delivered January 12, iso.'i. This speech is full of sound princi- 
ples and correct views, and is another proof of his being a thoroiigli business man. 

'Mr. Webster said, that before proceeding to the di.sciisfiion of the bill, lie felt it lobe 
bis duty to take notice of an oceurri-nee, such as did not ordinarilv dri'w fmni him any 
remarks in his place in the Senate. Some time last March, said Mr. W., there ap- 
Ijeared in a newspaper published at Albany, in the State of New York, a letter pur- 
porting to have been written to the editor from Washington, in which the writer 
charged me with having a direct personal interest in these claims. 1 am ashamed to 
say, that this leiter was written by a member of Congress. The assertion, like many 
others which 1 have not felt it to be my duty to take any notice of, was wholly ana 
entirely fal.se and malicious. I have no: the'slit;htest interi'st in these claims, or any 
one of theiii. I have never been conferred with or ret.ained by any one, or spoken to 
as counsel for any of them, in the course of my life. No member of the Senate is 
more entirely free from any personal connexion uith the cl.'iims than I am. It has 
been the pleasure of the Senate, on several occasions, to place me on a committee 
to v\hich these petitions have been referreri. I have, on tlios(," occasions, examined 
the subject, with a desire to ai quit myself eonvcicmiously, by exercising my best 
judgment upon the claims, as questions of mere right and iu>;tiee. 

'.Vt the last session, an nonorable member of the .S< nale, now in a public capacity 
at St. Petersburg, introdui;ed a bill for llu; relief of the. pctilioners, and moved llieai)- 
pointment iif a comniitiic, deelining himself to be a member of that committee. \Vitli- 
oiit any wish of mine, aiiti imleed without my knouledue, for 1 was not then in the 
dty, the Senate was pleased to [il.iee ine at the head of that <-oinmillee. I thought it 
my duty then tointroduci' the hill which was now again under consideration. 

This, said .Mr. W., ia no part; qiieBtion ; it iiivoUes iu> party principles ; ali'«< la no 

8 



106 LITE OF DAMKL WEBSTER. 

party interests ; seeks no parly ends or objects — and as it is a question ofjjrivate right 
and justier, it would bo a flac:rant wrong and injustice to attempt to give to it, any 
where, the ciiaracter of a party measure. The petitioners, the sufferers under the 
French spoHations, belong to all parties. Gentlemen of distinction, of ail parties, 
have at ditterent times maintained the justice of the claim. The present bill is in- 
tended for the equal relief of all si;f}ercrs; and if tlie measure shall become a party 
Micasure, I, for one, shall not pursue it. It will be wiser to leave it, till better auspices 
shall appear. 

'The question, sir, involved in this case, is essentially a judicial question. It is not 
n question of public policy, but a question of private right ; a question between the 
Government and the petitioners — and, as the Goveriunent is to be judge in its own 
case, it would seem to be the duty of its members to examine the subject with the 
most scrupulous good faith, and the most solicitous desire to do justice. 

' There is a propriety in commencing ihee.xaminaiion of these claims 'n the Senate, 
because it was the Si-naie winch, by its amendment of the treaty of 1?00, and its sub- 
sequent ratification of that treaty, and its recognition of the declaration of the Frcnch_ 
Government, eircctually rulunsed the claims as against France, and for ever cut off" 
the petitioners from all hopes of redress from liiat quarter. The claims, as claiins 
against our own Government, have ibcir foiinihiijon in these acts of the Senate it- 
self; and it may certainly lie expected that the .Senate will consider the effect of its 
own proceedings on iinvate right, and private inttrests, with that candor and justice 
whicn belong to its high character. 

'It ought not to be ubjecied to these petitioners, that their claim is old, or that they 
are now reviving any thing which has heretofore been abandoned. There has been 
no delay whicli is not reasonablv accounted for. The treaty, by which the claimants 
say their claims on Franco for tliese caiitures and confiscations were released, vas 
concluded in ISOO. Tlu-y immeduitily applied to Congress for indemnity, as will be 
seen by the report made in K~n'2, in the House of Representatives, iiy a committee 
of which a distingiiished member from Virginia, not now living, (Mr. Giles,) was 

chairman. , , ,-,1 . ■ 

'In ISO", on the petition of sundry inerchants and others, citizens of Charleston, in 
.South Carolina, a Committee of the House of Representatives, of which Mr. Marion 
of that State, was chairman, mane a report, declaring that the Committee w'as of 
npinion that the government of the United States was bound to indemnify the claimants. 
lUit at ihis time our aliinrs with the I'.uroptan Powers at war, had become exceedingly 
» nibarrassed ; our government had felt itself compelled to wiihdrawoiir commerce from 
the ocean ; and it was not until after the conclusion of the war of )^\2, and after the 
t'.eiieral pacification of Europe, that a suitable opportuiiitv occurred of presenting the 
i-ubiect again to the serious consideration of Congress. From that time 'he petition- 
ers "have been constantly before us, and the period has at length arrived proper for a 
final decision of tlieir case. 

'Another objection, sir, has been urged against these claims, well calculated to di- 
minish the favor with wliieh they might otherwise be received, and which is without 
any substantial foundation in fact. It is, that a great portion of thiiii has been bought 
n|>, as a matter of speculation, and it is now holden by these purchasers. It has even 
been said, I think, on the floor of tlie Senate, that nine-tenths, or mnety-liundredths, 
of all the claiins, are owned bv speculators. 

' Such unfounded statements are not onlr wholly unjust towards these petitionera 
themselves, but they do great mischief to oth( r inieresis. I have observed that a 
French gentleman of distinction, formcrlv a nsident m this country, is reiiresented m 
the public newspapers as having CLcliiitd the > tiir of a mit in the French adminis- 
tration, on the giound that he could not support ihe American treaty, and he could 
not support the trealv, because he had Itanied, or heard, while in America, that the 
claims were no longer the property of the cjrigiiisl sullcKrH, but had passed into un- 
worthy hands. If any such thing has been karned m the liiited Siate.s, it has been 
learned from sources eiitmly incorrect. 'I'he t.( neral fact is not so; and this preju- 
dice, thus operating on a great national iniercst— an interest, in regard to which, we 
are in danger of being seriously embroiled wiih a foreign State— was created, doubt- 
less, by the same incorrect ami unfounded assertions which have been made relative 
to this other class of claims. 

' In regard to both classes, and to all classes of claims of American citizens or foreign 
Governments, the statement is a I variance with the facts. Those who make it, have no 
proof of it. On the contrarv, incontrovertible evidence t'xisis of the tniili of the very re- 
verse of this statement. Tlie claims against Frame, since li-dO, are now in thecourseof 
adjudication. Thevare all, or very nearly all, im sent<^d to theproiHr liibimal. Proofs 
accompany them, and the rules of the tribuua! ntiiuie that, in each case, the true 
ownership should be fully and t.vuctly bet out, on oaih ; and be r roved by the papers, 



i.irE OF nANin. wehster. 107 

vouchers, and other evidence. Now, sir, if nny mnn is arqiminted, or will make him- 
self acqnniiue(i, with the proeeoclini^'s of this Trihunal, so far as to see who are the 
jiartie;! claiinini; the indtiunity, ho will see t\\e ahsolnte iirid cimrnioiis error, of those 
who reprcsi^nt tliese clninis, to he owned, in i.'re;U luiri, hy spceulators. 

'The tnnh is, sir, tha; ilicse f!;niii>-, as well iho«e since 1800, as before, are 
owned and possessed by the oiiainal snt1ir(Ms, with siirh ('han^esonly as happen in 
r-'<;ard to all other properly. The oriLjinal owner of ship and car^o ; his repriscnta- 
live, where sncli owni-r is dead ; luidcrwrittrs, wiio have paid losses on ac:eount of 
eapiiires atid eonfiseatinns ; and (^r^'dilnrsol' iusnlveni;: anrl bankiiijits, who were inter- 
ested in the ilain)s;--the.'ie are the d<'.-*iTi|iiioM« of persons, who, in all these cases, 
own vastly tln' larger portion of the claiais. This is true of llie claims on Spain, as 
js most manifest from the procirdini;s of tl'.e Coiinnissionevs under the Spar;!sli 
Treaty. It is true of the dailies on France aM«in!:; since isno, as is equally nianifirt 
hv the proceediiiiis of the (.'onimissioiurs now siitinj?; and it is equally Irueof the 
claims which are the subieci of this (hs-ussion, and provided for in this bill. In some 
instances, claims have been as^icrucd, from one to imotln-r, in the settlement of fanuly 
affairs. They have been transferred, in oihcr instances, to secure, or to pay debts ; they 
have been transferred, sometimes, in the setilement of insuranee accounts; and it is 
probable there area few cases, in wliicli the necessities of the ImKlers have compelled 
them to sell them. But noihing can be further from ihe truth than that they have been 
the general objects of purchase and s;de, and that they are now lioiden mainlv by pur- 
chasers from the orif:inal owners. They have been comoared to the uulounded debt. 
Hut that consisted in serin, of fi.xed amount, and wlii,;!! has piissed from hand t'> 
hand by deliverv. These claims cannot so priss from h.ind to hand. In each case, 
not only the value but the amount is uiiceriaiii. W'liether there be any claim, is, i;i 
each case, a matter for investigation and proof; and so is the amount, when thu 
justice of the claim itself is established. These ciremustances are of themselves qtiiiii 
sullicient to prevent the etisy and frequent transfer of the claims from luiiul to hrmi'-. 
They woul<l lead us toe.xpect that to hai)pen, vhiih actually has happened ; and that 
is, that the claims remain with their orii^inal owners, and their legal heirs and repre- 
sentatives, with such exce|iiiims ;is I have already mentioned. As to the portion of 
the claims now owned by underwriters, it can hanily be necessarv to sav, that they 
stand on the same equity and iustice, as if possessid ;iud presented by the owners i.f 
ships and floods. There is no more universal ma.vini of Inw and justice throu^duu.t 
the civilized and commercial world, that) that an niiilerwriier, who has paid a loss on 
ships or merchandise to the owner, is entitled to whatever may be received from i!ie 
property. His right accrues by the very act of payment; and if the property, or its 
proceeds, be afterwards recovered, in the whole or in part, whether the rt'covery b'^ 
from the sea, from captors, or from the justice of foreitm States, such recovery is 
for the benefit of the underwriter. .Any attempt, therefore, to prejudice these claim^, 
on the ground that niany of them beloui? to Insurance Companies, or other undei- 
writers, is at war with the first princiides f)f justice. 

' Mr. W. then proceeded to give a i'ciieral view of the history and character of thesu 
claims. He concluded his speech with the lidlowim? remarks: — 

'It only remains to show the reasonableness of the amount which the bill proposes 
to distribute. And this, it nmst be admitted, can only be fi.ved by estimate, and this 
estimate may be fornutl in various wavs. So fiir as can be learned, from official re- 
ports, there are something mori' than si.x hundred vessels, with their cargoes, which 
will be supposed to form (daims under this bill. Some of them, it is probable, mav 
not be good claims; but a very great majority of that number will be no doul)t just 
and fair cases. 

' Then, the question is, what may be retarded as a just a verase vnlue of each vessel 
and cargo? and this question is answered, in a manner as satisfactory as the nirtiire 
of the case allows, by ascertaining the average value of vessels and cargoes, for wliicii 
fompensalion has been awarded under the treaty with Spain. That average was 
115, 8U0 dollars, for each vessel and cargo; and taking the ca.ses coming undi^r this bill 
to be of the same averaire value, the whole amount ol loss would exceed ten millions 
of dollars, without interest. 

'On this estimate, it seems not unreasonable to allow the sum of five millions, in 
full satisfaction for all claims. There is no ground to suppose that the elaiinanis will 
receive, out of this sum, a greater rate of inihtiimtv than claimants have received 
who had claims against Sp:iin, or than oiher claimants against F'rance. whosf) 
claims has- not been relmquislu d, because nri.-iiig since IK)0, will receive, under thn 
provisions of the hite l''ieti,-li treaiv. 

' Mr. President, 1 have perfiirmed the duty of explaining this rase to the S^natr, 83 
I understood it. 1 believe the cinims to be ns just ns were ever prei-cnted to an\' 
(.Joveri.ment. I think they eonsiiiuie ;in biuust and well founded debt, due by the 



lOS LIFE or DANIEL WEBSTER. 

T'liited StntcB to these claimants ; a debt which, I am persuaded, the justice of (he 
Government, and the justice of the country, will, one day, both acknowledge and 
honorably discharge. 

' The bill was finally passed in the Senate, by a vote of 25 to 20.' 

We close our volume with this remark, that it would not be within the scope of 
our intentions to mention all the speeches or the exertions of Mr. Webster in the 

freat cause of his country's welfare. Ever since he has been in Congress he has 
een a watchman on the ramparts of the Constitution, armed, from head to foot to 
defend its out- works against e.xternal foes, and at the same lime has kept a most vigi- 
lant eye upon those who might be ready to surrender the citadel, traitors to their 
trust. He has not unbuckled his armour, nor reposed, but m his harness, during 
the whole siege; but, like the gallant Knights of Malta, has unfurled his banner, 
which is that of the Constitution, and waving it high, has cried aloud, night and day, 
" by this we conquer." His followers have never for a moment doubted his courage, 
or questioned his political prowess. His political enemies, in the pride of national glory, 
have admired his talents, and his friends have had no adequate words for their affection 
and gratitude. It has been one majestic and noble flow onward, as that of the Missis- 
sippi from its source to the sea, ever since he first appeared as a representative of his 
native State New Hampshire, until this hour, when he honors the Stale of his adop- 
tion Massachusetts. She is the able preserver of his fame. He stands however before 
the world by no Uttle local glimmerings of light, but elevated by great principles, rich 
in praiseworthy deeds, and shining, and burning by his own mental lustre and patriotic 
fires. He fills a large space not only with us, but abroad, wherever great thoughts, and 
efforts in a good cause, the cause of national liberty, are regarded among men. If the 
voice of wisdom and the warning of propliecy are held m estimation, Mr. Webster 
should be placed among the political seers, who should not be banished with Aristides 
in the spirit of injustice, but find like Numa the gratitude of a sagacious people. 



THE END. 



W 734 



< 



io 



ANALYSIS. 



Early Life and Education— Practice and Success as a Lawyer— Elected to Con- 
gress—Settles in Boston— Trial of the Kennistons. Dartmouth College Case- 
Speech on the Resolution relative to oaths of office in the Massachusetts State 
Convention— Delivers an Oration before the Pilgrim Society at Plymouth. Speech 
in Congress on the Greek Question. Bunker Hill Oration— Speech in Faneuil Hall 
in favour of the Union— Eulogy on Adams and .Tcfferson— Trial of Judge Prescott— 
Speech on that occasion. Panama Mission— Speech on that Resolution. Speech in 
favour of the Bill for the Relief of certain Officers of the Revolution— Visit to Nan- 
tucket — Address before the Boston Mechanic's Institution. Sketch of the Life of 
Ezekiel Webster. REPLY TO MR. HAYNE. Letter to Rev. Louis Dvvight on 
Imprisonment for Debt. Public Dinner in New York— Address on that Occasion. 
Speech in favour of Rechartering the U. S. Bank in 1832. Reply to Mr. Calhoun, 
Feb. 1833— Tour through the Western States— Report as Chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Finance, on the Removal of the Deposites. SPEECH ON THE PROTEST. 
Speech on the French Spoliation Bill. 






/ 

V 



e n O 



.^ 



^^K^^ : 



v-^ 















& *\ 



















/ /.^m^ t^^j^ y^^^ \^,<^^ yg^.^ u^^^^ 










"^n*. "••'" \^' 



. > V .•:-*. 'o^ ^4^' .:;?;i;r./% ^^'z*-" 










cp'.i^:^.'^ -^^o^-.X. y^^^^ / 




.**.c:«L-/v /.-j^/v^^o >*..i:.^'.V <f 















li:..:.i.:.^.:.i:- 










|}'?ii-5r'il^::i?r-' 








':'--'''-m 




